New York Knicks rumors: Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer sign and trade option
By Bryan Rose
On Tuesday evening, news broke suggesting that if Carmelo Anthony were to sign with the Chicago Bulls this offseason, they could attempt to trade Carlos Boozer to the New York Knicks. Such a move would likely be needed for the Bulls to sign Anthony, so understandably the New York Knicks declined that they’d have any such interest in the potential swap.
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However, Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal seems to believe that some in the Knicks front office would actually be open to such a move.
Why, you ask? Clearly Boozer isn’t of much value in terms of his on-court ability, however, there’s the belief that his large expiring contract could be of interest for teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves who may trade Kevin Love. Without Boozer’s salary on the books, the Knicks wouldn’t have the ability to acquire Love, so Boozer’s contract could become a very important trade piece.
Of course, the Knicks would likely just prefer to keep Carmelo Anthony in the Big Apple and avoid having to make such a move. But if Anthony does decide he wants to join the Chicago Bulls, the Knicks need to get some type of assets in return and while Boozer doesn’t inspire much for on-court play he is a lucrative trade asset.
Boozer wouldn’t be the New York Knicks only expiring deal, but you can never really have too many as teams are always looking to sell for salary cap relief. Add in that possibly the Knicks could secure additional assets along with Boozer for absorbing his salary and it makes a potentially ugly situation a little prettier.