To the Thunder fans who are happy that Carmelo Anthony is playing in Oklahoma City, they may want to thank Melo’s son for that.
In a feature with Marc Stein of the New York Times, Anthony talked about his thought process as he waived his no-trade clause to leave the Knicks. And even revealed that Melo’s 10-year-old son Kiyan wanted him to sign with OKC even before they were interested.
“My son said he wanted me to play for O.K.C.,” Anthony said. “Even before O.K.C. was in the picture.’’
While Anthony held no ill will toward the Knicks themselves, the same couldn’t be said about Phil Jackson. Melo revealed that he had only spoken to Jackson face-to-face twice and felt that Jackson was pushing him out.
“When I signed back with the Knicks, I wanted to be in New York and I believed in Phil,’’ Anthony added in reference to the $125 million contract with the no-trade clause that he agreed to with Jackson in July 2014, a deal that kept him from departing as a free agent.
“Then last year it went to: I was being pushed out. There were things being said about me that I didn’t know where they were coming from. And I still had to go in that gym and play and practice and deal with the media, answer all those questions every day.”
When Anthony finally decided he was going to leave the Knicks, he weighed his options. And after asking many people, Anthony asked his son who chose the Thunder.
“My son has a basketball mind,” Anthony said. “So I will always throw little topics at him. He was like, ‘Dad, where you getting traded to?’ I told him, ‘I don’t know, where do you think I should go?’ He said: ‘You really want me to give you my opinion? I think you should go to O.K.C.’
“It worked out,” Anthony added.
We’ll see if the move pays dividends but I’m sure Melo is happier in OKC and surely the Thunder are a better team with him. Maybe for the player who has fallen just short and a team who has done the same, maybe both being together can help each other out.
