This move comes after a very interesting summer for the Knicks. First, the team fired Phil Jackson after a disastrous tenure as team president and hired Scott Perry as the new general manager. Now there's this, which is closing the book on Carmelo's seven and a half year stretch with the Knicks. February 22nd, 2011 was the date that brought Melo and Chauncey Billups to New York in a three team trade that involved the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves. The deal was a controversial one that the Knicks’ owner, James Dolan, approved over the objections of Donnie Walsh, who was then the team president. Walsh did not want to surrender so many players to acquire Anthony when the Knicks could have simply waited a few more months and tried to sign him as a free agent. But Dolan being Dolan, he had to grab the headline and pulled the trigger on the deal.
When Melo got traded to New York, there was a lot of hype around him, and for good reason. Not only was he one of the premier players in all of the NBA, but it was kind of like the local boy coming home, as Melo is a Brooklyn boy. During his six and a half seasons in New York, Carmelo played in 412 games in the Orange and Blue. In that time, he was averaging 24.7 points, 7 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 44.3 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from 3-point range. There were some big nights for Melo in a Knicks jersey. He won the NBA scoring crown in 2012-13, lead the league with 28.7 points per game, finishing third overall in MVP voting. On January 24th, 2014 against the Bobcats, Melo broke Bernard King’s franchise record and the Garden record for points in a game, going 23-for-35 from the field, while dropping 62 points. Then, on November 2nd of that year, against that same Bobcats team, Anthony joined an elite club that included just 39 other players at the time, to score 20,000 career points. Carmelo is one of the eight members who still are active. And he did help lead the Knicks to three straight playoff appearances, including a second round appearance in 2013.
While he had some good moments, there were also bad ones associated with Carmelo. There was having season ending knee surgery after playing in the 2015 All Star Game. During that time he was hurt, in his tenure with the Knicks, that Jeremy Lin got plenty of playing time. Lin took full advantage of it and was making a lot of noise in the local papers. Carmelo wasn't happy with it. Anthony reportedly wasn’t eager to play second fiddle to the guard, which may explain why Lin wasn't brought back. Some claim that Melo is the reason that Mike D’Antoni resigned as head coach. According to one story, Melo gave Knicks’ brass an ultimatum, either he goes or I go. Clearly Melo stayed. The biggest stink with Melo came three years ago. Anthony got a $124 million extension over five years in 2014. He continued to put up big numbers year after year, but the Knicks became the laughingstock of the league. Add in the no-trade clause that made dealing him much more difficult, and this turned into a total disaster for the Knicks’ front office.
For as good as Carmelo has been in his time with the Knicks, he's also had a few moments that he'd like to forget. Its been a perfect storm with him during his time here in New York. Now that storm is done with, and he can kind of try and hit restart in Oklahoma City. For the record, it won't take long for Melo to face his old team. The Knicks play the Thunder October 19th, their season opener.
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