Though most of the NBA's offseason activity has come and passed, the trade rumors surrounding New York Knicks forward and 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony continue to swirl as mid-August approaches.
Following up on his earlier report that the Portland Trail Blazers were interested in acquiring the 33-year-old from the Knicks, ESPN senior writer and NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski appeared on the Ryen Russillo Show Friday morning to discuss the rumors after video of Portland guard CJ McCollum and Anthony playing pickup in New York was posted on Instagram earlier in the week:
"Portland is an interesting team in this because CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard have done a really good of recruiting Carmelo," Wojnarowkski told Russillo. "They’ve been on him. McCollum is in New York, you saw the video of [McCollum and Anthony] playing pickup. Selling [Anthony] on ‘Hey, look what our team could look like with you.’… but that’s incumbent ultimately on can Portland put a package together that appeals to New York?
"But if they could, then that’s a sleeper team in this to get Carmelo to waive his no-trade because I’m told they’ve piqued Carmelo’s interest at the very least."
Anthony holds career averages of 24.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over his 15-year NBA career. Entering his eighth season as a Knick in 2017-18, Anthony has a full no-trade clause to essentially select which team he would like to play for next should he and New York part ways.
Listen to Russillo's full interview with Wojnarowski below, starting around the 25-minute mark HERE.