Houston Rockets Rumors: How the team can snag Carmelo Anthony

The plot just thickened for the Houston Rockets as one of the league’s most coveted players has decided to waive their no-trade clause, making the pathway easier to join the team.

It just feels terrific that the Houston Rockets continue to swing for the fences, trying to create their super team to compete with the Golden State Warriors, currently industry-standard in today’s NBA. General manager Daryl Morey is far from done in trying to improve this team for the better.

So far, the team has landed game-changing guard Chris Paul, signed free agent forward P.J. Tucker and re-signed Nene Hilario to a multi-year deal. The roster is filling out but you the franchise is looking for the final piece to make this roster whole. With the latest news to break, it’s quite possible that piece may be available sooner than we thought.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Carmelo Anthony has expressed his desire to waive his no-trade clause only for the Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers. We had wondered was this news going to come to fruition and it turns out that he does want to come here. Just think about it, he, James Harden and Paul together ensuring this team has three superstars to contend for the next title.

This is an ongoing trend in the NBA with the Miami Heat being the first to start it when LeBron James joined forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh when he was able to win his first career championship. Consequently in similar fashion, we know that Harden can’t go at this alone and that he needs help in order for this team to get to the promised land so we’re getting all the help he can stand. Paul is definitely a step in the right direction.

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But back to the task at hand, Woj mentioned that Anthony controls the process because if the team is unable to trade for him now, they could lose him for nothing if he decides to exercise his early termination option built into his contract next off season. Anthony will make $26.2 million in 2017-18 and $27.9 million in 2018-19 if he decides to opt-in. But we all now that it’s likely Anthony will opt-out so that the ultimate flexibility can be taken in order for him to get the best deal as possible. Especially in the days of the ever-escalating NBA salary cap.

So what will it take for us to land Melo?

Obviously, the easiest to package would be Ryan Anderson along with Trevor Ariza to the New York Knicks. Since the Rockets are about $16.1 million over the cap so another sign-and-trade deal would have to be facilitated in order to land Melo.

Woj also said that the Knicks have had a reluctant stance to take on Ryno’s salary as he’s owed $61.3 million over the next three seasons. So how else would a deal have to be done? Here’s where it can get tricky but it’s possible. The Rockets can drum up Eric Gordon, Ariza, Chinanu Onuaku and a couple of future draft picks together to pull this deal off. I’d also not rule out Clint Capela to be included as they’d like a valuable asset like he that can bang in the paint with Kristaps Porzingis. It’s also important to note that Anthony has a 15 percent trade kicker which is currently worth $8.1 million extra to his salary. He’d definitely have to waive that in order for a deal like this to happen with Houston.

It’s also possible for the Rockets to package their non-guaranteed contracts as well as they hold the contracts of Ryan Kelly, Shawn Long, Tim Quarterman, Isaiah Taylor and Jarrod Uthoff.

We all question the fit of Melo with the Rockets as he’s ball-dominant and leans toward a “me-first” attitude. But this change in course indicates that he’s seriously committed to winning a title as he has made a ton of money of his career. He has played for Mike D’Antoni before during his participation in the Summer Olympics so I’m sure the coaching will not be a problem as he’ll know how to get the most out of him.

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This goes to show that Morey was serious when he mentioned that this team was going “all-in” this off season after completing the deal for Paul. I personally have my reservations for this deal but we aren’t going to get better if stand complacent so that’s why this deal needs to happen and we’ll see how it goes from there. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Anthony, 33, averaged 22.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists off 43.3 percent shooting from the field and 35.9 percent from three through 74 games last season.

Go Rockets.

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