Carmelo Anthony rumors: Rockets, Bulls and Mavericks still in the running

The race to land the services of Carmelo Anthony is coming down the home stretch, and as of this weekend, the reports have been that the decision is down to either heading out west to the Los Angeles Lakers or a return to New York with the Knicks. This would leave the other suitors –the Rockets, Bulls and Mavericks– on the outside looking in, which might not be the case.

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Sure, those three might not be on the top of the list at the moment, reportedly, but it’s interesting to note that ESPN’s Marc Stein is stating that none of them have been told that they’re out of the running just yet.

There is still hope.

At the start of the free agency period, the Bulls were thought of by many as the clear-cut front runner, but that thought process quickly diminished when Melo went out to Los Angeles and met with the Lakers and Knicks on the same day, which is when those two emerged as the top two contenders.

It might take a lot for the Rockets, Bulls and Mavs to convince Carmelo to change his mind, but each team could end up providing their own unique argument as to why he should ultimately spurn the Lakers and Knicks to sign with them instead.

The Bulls have the Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah factor. The Rockets have the Dwight Howard and James Harden argument. And finally, honestly, who wouldn’t want to play with Dirk Nowitzki on a team that we saw last season is close to being a title contender once again?

There’s still a few more days to go, but things could get real interesting, real quickly.