Cleveland Cavaliers: Trading for Carmelo Anthony is likely the next move

Worth More to Cleveland?

Here’s where the unique situation of Carmelo Anthony comes into play. In the NBA, the same asset can and often should be judged very differently depending on who’s doing the judging.

To about 25 other NBA teams – those without a realistic shot of contending in the coming few seasons, and whose best bet is developing young talent – Carmelo Anthony has little value. Many of those teams also already have alpha dogs who demand the ball. With very few exceptions, Carmelo Anthony hasn’t shown himself to be someone who relishes sharing the rock with anyone.

LeBron James is one of those exceptions. The thinking goes that James will be able to get the best out of Melo while neutering his worst qualities. Moreover, Anthony could take one from the Cavs’ playbook and conserve whatever defensive energy he still possesses for when it matters most. At the very least, replace Love with Melo and Cleveland is still the favorite in the East.

They would also likely suffer the same result in the Finals. But what if they were able to get back more for Love than just LeBron’s banana boat buddy?