NBA Trade Rumors: Carmelo Anthony still wants to be a Rocket

NBA Trade Rumors: Don’t expect Carmelo Anthony to be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he still wants to be a Houston Rocket

Despite the recent traction that Kyrie Irving could eventually be dealt for Carmelo Anthony in a trade that would make sense for both sides between the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks, Melo still has all the power.

And, at least right now, it appears that Melo will not be a member of the Cavaliers.

According to a recent report from ESPN’s Ian Begley, Melo still very much wants to be a Houston Rocket and they remain his No. 1 choice.

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[via ESPN]

"Carmelo Anthony’s top destination in any trade, per league sources, is the Houston Rockets. Nothing really has changed since ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported more than a week ago that Anthony still expected the Knicks to carry out their previous plan to trade him to Houston…All of (the speculation about Anthony going to Cleveland) is, of course, meaningless until one of two things happen:1. The Knicks decide to include Porzingis in a deal for Irving (unlikely).2. Anthony decides to move on from the possibility of being traded to Houston and strongly considers playing for a Cavs team without Irving. As of late Tuesday, he wasn’t prepared to do that."

In other words, expect this Carmelo Anthony drama to continue to drag into the remainder of the NBA offseason. It’s been reported that the Rockets are having trouble in finding a landing spot for Ryan Anderson’s or Trevor Ariza’s contracts in any hypothetical Anthony deal.

The Knicks, for good reason, don’t want anything to do with the big money that both of those players have remaining on their contracts. And until either the Knicks or Rockets find a third team to make this deal more conceivable, Anthony is going to remain a member of the Knicks for the foreseeable future.

Question is, will his patience grow thin as we grow closer and closer to the open of NBA training camp? If so, then perhaps he will open up his willingness to waive his no-trade clause to a few other teams? Maybe, even Cleveland?

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Even though a Kyrie for Melo and perhaps more, makes sense for both the Cavs and Knicks, it seems that this option is not even on the table for New York or Cleveland.