Carmelo Anthony is eligible to become a free agent after the upcoming season if he chooses to opt out of his current contract with the New York Knicks. He is due to make $23.3 million during the 2014-2015 season, but plenty of teams would be lining up to offer him a max contract if he opts out next summer. As of now, Anthony says he has no intention of leaving New York.
“I’m not going nowhere,” Carmelo said during an interview on Bloomberg Television Tuesday, via Newsday’s Al Iannazzone.
Wait, not going nowhere? Doesn’t that mean he’s going somewhere because of the whole double negative thing? For this sake of this discussion, we’ll assume he meant to say “anywhere.”
If Anthony does choose to opt out, the Knicks could offer him a five-year, $129 million contract whereas other teams could only offer a four-year, $96 million deal. As we learned with Dwight Howard over the summer, that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t skip town. However, ‘Melo insists he wants to bring a championship to New York.
“That is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here to New York, just so I could take on those pressures and those challenges,” Anthony said. “A lot of people do not like to deal with the pressure. A lot of people do not know how to deal with the challenges they face. To me, it is everyday life.”
At age 29, jumping to another team would make little sense for Anthony. The Knicks should be improved next season with the addition of Andrea Bargnani, and the best thing for Carmelo’s legacy would be to prove he can take a team in a championship drought like New York and bring them a title. That being said, don’t be surprised if Anthony wants out if the Knicks fall short of expectations this year.
