Phil Jackson wants Carmelo Anthony to waive his no-trade clause

He’s pretty much coming right out now and saying that the Knicks would like to trade Carmelo but need some help from their most high profile player.

Say this about Phil Jackson: he may or may not have lost touch with the NBA game, and his use of the media and social media to play head games can be questionable. But eventually, he’ll back up even his unpopular stances with blunt talk, even when it comes to New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony.

Jackson gave perhaps his most direct statement today on the subject of a possible trade that would ship Carmelo elsewhere. The problem is that like a number of NBA All-Stars, Anthony has a no-trade clause.

So now Jackson is basically asking for Carmelo’s help to facilitate a trade.

“We’d like him to have success,” Jackson said to ESPN. “The opportunity is narrowing. We’d just like him to have success somewhere. We’re not going to be there. Hopefully, we’ll be maybe a playoff team next year. It would be tough to consider us a possible champion.”

That’s still a little passive aggressive. “We’d just like him to have success somewhere” is more or less the sports equivalent of “it’s not you, it’s me” when it comes to breaking up.

And yet despite his professed love for New York, one would have to figure that the lure of playing for a legit title contender must appeal to the 32-year old Anthony. Because that’s the straight talk part of what Jackson is saying: the Knicks aren’t going to contend over the next few seasons. They have a few pieces but not enough, and moving Carmelo would probably be best for both parties.

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In this case, though, it’s going to take a willingness on the part of both the Knicks and Anthony for it to happen. Until it does, expect Jackson to speak about it some more, especially since people aren’t going to stop asking about it.