The Knicks and Rockets may or may not be close on a Carmelo Anthony trade. The latest iteration is reportedly a four-team deal (because, when three teams don’t want Ryan Anderson‘s burdensome contract, why not rope in another team that doesn’t want it either?).
Which other teams are involved? Maybe New Orleans.
Marc Berman of the New York Post:
The Pelicans, once the home of Ryan Anderson, expressed interest in being one of the clubs involved, according to a source.
Anderson spent four years in New Orleans, and it became clear he’d leave in free agency as soon as he could. Lo and behold (after the going-nowhere Pelicans somehow didn’t preemptively trade him), he signed with Houston last summer. Sending Anderson back to New Orleans would be a cruel fate.
Anderson would also be a strange fit on a team that has Anthony Davis and DeMarcus and Dante Cunningham‘s Bird Rights. But the Pelicans also have their own bad contracts with Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca, and dealing those two for Anderson would be a major talent upgrade and fit improvement.
Still, that leaves a new problem: Who takes the undesirable Asik and Ajinca? Must be that mysterious fourth team.
Of course, all that presumes New Orleans would accept Anderson. If not, we’re left the original problem: Who will take Anderson?
