Another Blockbuster Deal In The NBA

Last summer the “LeBron drama” was the talk of the NBA.  Every sports analyzer was forced to talk about which team he would go to and who would be teaming up with him.  In the end, Lebron ended up wasting an hour of TV time to tell the viewers he was going to Miami during the first five minutes.  The rest was a waste of time with him talking about why he made the decision.  Carmelo, who had the same situation LeBron had, didn’t want to make his decision a soap opera.
    “I would never go about it the way LeBron did it” Carmelo said when asked about the way LeBron made his decision.  Carmelo had no intentions of talking about it until he knew what was going to happen.  During the All-Star Game he was asked what he thought was going to happen; “I’m just ready for this whole thing to be over with”, Carmelo said, frustrated that during his break he was still being asked the same questions.
    One day after the All-Star Game, the trade finally happened that sent Carmelo, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman,  to the New York Knicks.  The Knicks on the other hand had to send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, second-round picks in 2012 and 2013, a 2014 first-round draft pick, and $3 million to the Nuggets.  The Timberwolves were the third leg of this trade.  They sent Corey Brewer to the Knicks, Kosta Koufus to the Nuggets, in exchange for Eddy Curry, Anthony Randolph, a 2015 second-round draft pick from Denver, and $3 million from the Knicks.
    This trade could not have happened if Carmelo hadn’t signed the three year $65 million a year contract extension with the Nuggets first. That was what started all the rumors; if he would sign the contract extension with the Nuggets or want to be traded.  No one knew at all what he was going to do with a new rumor coming out each day.  The rumors were finally put to rest when he signed the contract, and the deal happened.

To compete with the “Big Threes” of Boston and Miami, the Knicks now have a “Big Two”, and Chauncey Billups.  It may not be this year that the Knicks win a championship, but if they can pick up another star from free agency in the off-season, then next year New York might be a happy basketball city once again.

-Connor Buckley