As the Denver Nuggets prepared for Carmelo Anthony(notes) to report to the team’s media day on Monday, their front office worked to expand the scope of the four-team deal that would send the All-Star forward to the New Jersey Nets, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
On Monday morning, dialogue on the four-way deal that would bring Anthony to the Nets picked up again among the teams. “There’s some momentum again,” one league executive told Yahoo! Sports. Talks had slowed down over the weekend, as the Nuggets gathered offers from around the league.
The Nuggets have made every player on their roster, except for point guards Chauncey Billups(notes) and Ty Lawson(notes), available in the discussions, a league executive said. Along with the unloading of their franchise star, the Nuggets appear willing to overhaul their roster and send out players such as Kenyon Martin(notes), Nene and J.R. Smith(notes).
“They’re processing everything,” a league executive familiar with the Nuggets’ internal discussions said Sunday night. “They’ve still got to hash this thing out within their own house.”
The Nuggets have postured that they’re willing to let Anthony report and start training camp with him, but teams dealing with the Nuggets are skeptical and believe Denver will cut a deal this week. While Denver told teams it was mulling several offers, league sources still believe the most likely deal to be completed is the proposed trade that gives them New Jersey’s Derrick Favors(notes), Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko(notes) and two future first-round draft picks.
Anthony prefers a trade to the New York Knicks, but so far New York hasn’t been able to offer the kind of package the Nuggets believe gives them maximum return for one of the NBA’s elite players. New York president Donnie Walsh has talked to teams about acquiring a draft pick for part of the Knicks’ offer to Denver, but so far he hasn’t come close to matching the package of players and picks the Nuggets have in place with the Nets, Charlotte Bobcats and Utah Jazz in the four-team trade scenario.
The Nets remained confident they could offset the negative feedback Anthony has gotten from some of New Jersey’s former players in the league. The Nets, Bobcats and Jazz are waiting for Denver to give them an answer on the four-team trade that took shape late last week.
Philadelphia president Rod Thorn discussed a trade centered on Sixers forward Andre Iguodala(notes) for Anthony, the Philadelphia Daily News reported on Sunday. Thorn will not make a trade for Anthony without him promising to sign a contract extension, a league executive told Yahoo! Sports on Monday morning. Still, the Sixers have been led to believe Anthony won’t commit to a contract extension if he’s traded there, and losing him as a rent-a-player would be a steep price to pay for Iguodala.
Denver hasn’t felt an immense urgency to get this deal done before training camp because team officials believe he cares too deeply about his image that’s been rehabbed over the past few years. They believe he’ll show up to media day and training camp and play the part of the good teammate – even if he does want out.
Under the current four-team trade proposal, the Nuggets would receive Favors, Kirilenko, who has an expiring contract, and two future first-round picks from the Nets. The picks include New Jersey’s 2011 first-rounder and the 2012 pick the Nets own from the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors’ pick would include some kind of a lottery protection.
The Nets would also send point guard Devin Harris(notes) to the Bobcats, who would move forward Boris Diaw(notes) to the Jazz. Nets guard Quinton Ross(notes) would also be sent to the Jazz.
New Jersey desperately wants Anthony, 26, to become the face of its franchise as it prepares to make a move to a new Brooklyn arena in 2013. The Nets have reshaped the franchise under new Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov. They have resources unmatched in the NBA and will move out of the decrepit Meadowlands arena and into the state-of-the-art Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., this season. The Nets are likely to spend two years in Newark before moving to New York.
New Jersey is trying to sell Anthony on the promise of young center Brook Lopez(notes) and the track record of new coach Avery Johnson. Still, the Nets are coming off a franchise-worst 12-70 season.
Anthony has refused to sign a three-year, $65 million extension with the Nuggets and has made it clear to team officials he’s not comfortable with the franchise’s stability.
Agents William Wesley and Leon Rose, who represent Anthony for CAA, have been advocates for Anthony to agree to sign a $65 million contract extension with the Nets. An immense part of Worldwide Wes’ selling job on Anthony includes the scenario of the Nets signing New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul(notes) in his free agency summer of 2012, sources told Yahoo! Sports. In July, Anthony and Paul were toasting at the Nuggets star’s wedding about joining Amar’e Stoudemire(notes) with the New York Knicks, but that could change should Anthony accept a deal to the Nets.
Paul joined Worldwide Wes and Rose at CAA, in part, for the chance to be packaged with their clientele of stars. After putting together Dwyane Wade(notes), LeBron James(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes) in Miami, Anthony and Paul could conceivably partner with Lopez to make the Nets a formidable franchise. Paul was willing to accept a trade to the Nets over the summer, and like Anthony, he wants a chance to play in a major metropolitan market.
Still, the Nets wouldn’t have the assets to make a deal for Paul in 2011, if New Orleans, like Denver, wanted to trade him a year before his free agency to try and get maximum value for him. New Jersey would have to give up too much in this proposed ‘Melo deal to cobble together another package of young players and draft picks a year from now. The Nets likely would have to wait until Paul’s free agency in 2012.
others involved in this deal
Devin Harris, Boris Diaw, Andrei Kirilenko, rookie Derek Favors, Andre Igouodala, and Quinton Ross.
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