NBA Free Agents: Carmelo Anthony’s best destinations

New York Knicks

It’s a long shot at this point, but home is where the heart is and for more than three years, New York has been Carmelo’s home. They’re one of the biggest markets in basketball, one of the most storied franchises and if you bring a title to the Knickerbockers, you’ll be a legend forever in one of the greatest cities in the world. Those are all selling points that new president Phil Jackson will have to hammer home in negotiations.

The major problem here is that if Anthony had serious thoughts about staying, he could have just waited one more year to test the free agent market. There’s no way he’s going to sign a one-year deal with the Knicks at this point. They’ll have to sell him on the future because the pu-pu platter of Bargnani, Stoudemire, Felton and Chandler just isn’t going to fly. If that set of teammates tempted him at all, he could have kept that $23.3 million he was due next season.

If…a HUGE IF…the Knicks can convince Anthony that they’ll be bringing in some serious help in 2015-16, then they might be able to keep him. The major issue there is that Anthony is on the wrong side of 30 and isn’t going to want to be a bit player on a championship team. He’s a superstar in real life and in his own mind. He wants to be the reason his team wins a championship and that’s not happening with the Knicks current roster. He can only carry them so far.

It’s

borderline lunacy

being remarkably optimistic, but it could happen.