In this piece, Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post outlines the myriad ways in which Carmelo Anthony’s recent behavior bodes ill for the franchise:
These are some of the dots: He’s selling his Littleton estate; the constant reports of Anthony telling friends that he wants to play for the New York Knicks; his New York wedding; his East Coast upbringing; summer trade talk that has cropped up twice in his time in Denver, which hasn’t always made him feel wanted; oh, and not signing a contract that averages around $21.6 million per year for the next three years, a sizable amount of money that he may not be able to earn with a new collective bargaining agreement.
None of that information looks great for the Nuggets, but at least Anthony is saying the right things for now:
For the record, Anthony calls the New York speculation “rumors.”
“I’ve been hearing that for five years,” Anthony said. “I’m a Denver Nugget. I’m here, I’m with the Nuggets. I don’t become a free agent until next year, if I decide not to take that extension.”
It seems to me that if Anthony truly wanted to stay in Denver, he would have signed the extension by now. But we’ll see how the story plays out in the days and weeks ahead.