Carmelo Anthony originally planned to only meet with the Los Angeles Lakers today, but now it has been reported that the New York Knicks will make a trip to the West Coast to meet with the all-star small forward after the Lakers pitch him.
Perhaps Phil Jackson and the Knicks front office starting panicking when they heard Kobe Bryant would be flying in from a vacation in Europe to meet with Anthony during the Lakers pitch. This is no longer the case because Anthony's meeting with LA has been moved forward and Bryant won't make it in time, but he still hopes to meet with Melo later this evening.
Now that the Knicks are running out to Los Angeles, it's unknown what will transpire. Melo has already met with the Bulls, Mavericks, and Rockets and is continuing his free agency tour. But the Knicks are the only team who can offer Anthony the largest contract possible, which is likely weighing in on his decision. New York can give Melo $129 million over five years compared to $96 million over four years that the rest of the NBA can provide.
Phil Jackson previously tried to convince Melo to opt-in to the final year of his contract with the Knicks to save the organization some money so Jackson could get formidable players around the superstar, but Anthony opted out and is exploring all of his options. His ultimate goal is to join a team that can contend for a championship. Jackson already traded away Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks - two players he said potentially contributed to team chemistry issues - in order to free up cap space and continue to build a better roster. And although the Knicks are confident Anthony will return, it's still all up in the air.
"We don't have control when someone goes into free agency," said Jackson, the Knicks' President, in this New York Times article. "People are going to appeal to him, and he's going to have to make that judgment call. We just hope that what we're doing appeals to him, also."
Although Jackson hoped not to offer Anthony the maximum contract, he might have no choice at this point if the Lakers are seeking options to use their cap space to make an interesting move, say, to acquire both LeBron James and Anthony. But nothing is clear at this point, except for the fact Anthony is meeting with the Lakers and the Knicks in Los Angeles today.
You can read more about Carmelo Anthony in this ESPN article.
