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Well, this came together fast:
New York has agreed to a deal to send Carmelo Anthony to OKC for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a draft pick, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 23, 2017
Sources: OKC will send New York a 2018 second-round pick via Chicago.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 23, 2017
Carmelo Anthony is waiving his trade kicker to make OKC deal work, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 23, 2017
Deal is complete, trade call Monday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 23, 2017
This came together so quickly that when Joe assigned me the article, I was preparing to write one called “Woj: The Knicks are in serious talks to send Carmelo Anthony to the Thunder” or something like that. But instead, the trade has been made; it’ll be finalized on Monday.
We knew from this morning’s David Aldridge report that the Knicks were targeting big men in Melo trades (Enes Kanter, Tristan Thompson, Jusuf Nurkic), and Kanter is the effective headliner in this deal. He’s owed about $17.8 million this year, with a player option for $18.6 million in 2018-19. Kanter’s a talented offensive player (he put up a 14.3 ppg/6.7 rpg line last season in only 21 minutes per game) but a terrible defender. Basically a more expensive Willy Hernangomez!
As for Doug McDermott, he’s on the final year of his rookie deal:
Doug McDermott is in the last year of his rookie contract with a cap hit of $3.3M. The Knicks can extend McDermott up until October 16.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 23, 2017
McDermott has lived up to his “McBuckets” nickname as an NBA player, shooting 39.4% from three point range for his career.
As for the pick: a first rounder would’ve been nice, but it’s worth noting that the Bulls’ second rounder will probably be in the 31-33 range because they’re awful.
We’ll have much deeper analysis, both on the package coming to the Knicks and Melo’s Knicks career, later today and in the coming days.
I’ll miss you, big guy. Now go win a championship in OKC.