Carmelo Anthony was 'close' to leaving New York Knicks

The 2013-2014 season was a disaster for the New York Knicks. After finishing 54-28 in the the 2012-2013 season, the second-best mark in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks went 37-45 last season and missed the playoffs. That caused many to believe the star forward Carmelo Anthony had played his last game in a Knicks’ uniform.

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Anthony opted out of the final year and became an unrestricted free agent. He lined up several visits and wound up meeting with the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers (in that order). The Mavericks never seemed like a realistic destination and the Rockets weren’t as big of a player for Anthony as they hoped. However, Anthony was very interested in joining the Bulls and the Lakers impressed Anthony enough for Anthony to strongly consider joining both squads.

“It was close. I don’t even like to talk about that no more,” Anthony told Ian Begley of ESPN New York. “This is home. There is no place like New York. Although the other situations were very intriguing, there is no place like New York.”

Instead, Anthony will likely suffer through one more tough year before they can potentially add a star to the team.

Anthony put up 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and shot 45.2% from the field, 40.2% from beyond the arc and 84.8% from the free throw line last season. In his 11-year career, Anthony has gone for 25.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 45.5% from the floor, 34.5% from beyond the arc and 81.1% from the charity stripe.

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Carmelo Anthony was ‘close’ to leaving New York Knicks

By Andrew Melnick | Aug 22, 2014