Of all the Carmelo Anthony trade rumors, this might be the most intriguing one of the NBA trade deadline season.
As the Knicks attempt to move the narrative away from what happened with Charles Oakley at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, talk about Phil Jackson, Anthony and an eventual trade will soon take over the back pages again.
If The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor is some sort of NBA prophet, basketball fans will have something to chew on for years.
O’Connor, while naming the best possible landing spot for Anthony as the Clippers, came up with a way to balance Los Angeles’ roster and get the Knicks back a substantial package for Anthony. The trick? Involve Blake Griffin and call up the Celtics.
Here’s the proposal:
Los Angeles gets: Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley
New York gets: Amir Johnson, Jamal Crawford, 2018 unprotected Celtics first-round pick, 2018 protected Grizzlies first (via Boston), 2019 unprotected Clippers first
Boston gets: Blake Griffin, Paul Pierce
Clearly, there’s a lot to unpack there. With trade kickers, it can get complicated. But the overall structure would be a boon to the Knicks. Instead of taking back spare parts, Austin Rivers and nothing close to an impact draft pick, adding Griffin and the superstar-hungry Celtics to the mix would bring back three potential lottery picks for the Knicks.
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Three first-round picks for Anthony would make any deal a good one for the Knicks.
Adding Anthony and Bradley (despite moving on from Griffin) would balance the Clippers roster and change up the status quo in L.A.
Putting Griffin alongside Isaiah Thomas and Al Horford–not to mention the intrigue of bringing back Pierce to Boston for one more run–would be a fascinating big three to compete with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
The 2017 NBA trade deadline is on Feb. 23.
Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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