Carmelo Anthony Waiting On LeBron’s Decision
By Jason Gold
We thought we would have a decision by Carmelo Anthony on Monday. Well, it’s now Wednesday. Clearly something has changed.
Carmelo Anthony, according to ESPN, is waiting for LeBron James to commit to a franchise before making a similar choice himself. Sources say that Carmelo wants to see out the James situation for a couple of reasons. The first is that is there is an opportunity to play with LeBron, in any city, Carmelo would take a look at that option. Anthony also wants the LeBron situation to play out first because he wants to see the entire basketball landscape before coming to a decision.
LeBron switching teams, whether it’s going to Cleveland or somewhere else, shifts the entire dynamic of the NBA. Wouldn’t you wait for that massive domino to fall before making your decision? That is basically Carmelo’s mindset right now.
While the decision to wait may be a smart one for Anthony, it is holding up part of the free agency market and is keeping his potential suitors in limbo. The New York Knicks and Phil Jackson had expected to hear from Anthony, like the rest of us, on Monday. That “deadline” came and went without so much as a peep from Carmelo, which has left the Knicks searching for answers and trying to figure out if Carmelo is actually going to leave the franchise.
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Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, the other two suitors for Anthony, have had mixed emotions about this delay. The Lakers are said to be more confident about signing Carmelo by the day and believe that the more Carmelo thinks about the Lakers option, the more likely he is to decide to team up with Kobe Bryant and Co. The Chicago Bulls, for their part, haven’t heard anything from Anthony or his representatives one way or the other. They don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but they know they’re still in the game.
There are a couple of different free agency scenarios playing out simultaneously right now. The first is obviously LeBron James and his interest in the Cleveland Cavaliers. If LeBron goes to Cleveland you can expect a whole slew of free agents to follow him, along with potentially Kevin Love. However, LeBron may not be the lynch pin to free agency right now. No, that may be his teammate Chris Bosh.
Let’s say, for example, that Chris Bosh accepts the 4-yr, $88M deal from the Houston Rockets. Does that mean LeBron would be more likely to leave Miami because he’s losing one of the big three? Or could it mean that LeBron is going to go back to Miami and bring Carmelo Anthony with him to form a new big three?
There are an endless amount of possibilities right now. LeBron James holds all of the cards. He’s more powerful than Adam Silver at this point. All we know right now is this: Once LeBron makes his decision the flood gates will open for all of the other NBA Free Agents.