This wasn’t the way any of this was supposed to go, of course. Carmelo Anthony was one of the handful of modern athletic icons who sought New York City, who craved the lights and the attention, the noise and the lights and the buzz.
He wanted to make this work in New York every bit as New York did. That’s a rare thing in these days when you can be as big a star in Cleveland as in Chelsea. The day he arrived, he talked hopefully of being a title to the place where The City Game has been fostered forever.
Instead, Anthony seeks that glory in Oklahoma City.
And, all due respect but …
Oklahoma City?
So this is how it ends, Anthony finally agreeing to add to his list of suitable destinations, the Knicks wasting as little time as possible closing a deal with the Thunder. In a time when the Warriors seem impenetrable it might not really matter what any of the other Western Conference teams do, but a Melo/Russell Westbrook/Paul George triumvirate ought to be pretty easy on the eyes when the 2017-18 season commences.
(Which, for the Thunder, means the Knicks on Opening Night on Oct. 19. Because of course it does.)
So with one transaction – Anthony there, Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a second-round pick here – the door finally closes on a couple of different eras.
It slams that door shut on the Phil Jackson Error – the Jackson Hole Era – in which the ousted Knicks president re-signed Anthony in free agency despite his many misgivings; then gave Anthony a full no-trade clause that all but kneecapped whatever leverage he had once he decided to part ways; and then resorted to maligning him publicly whenever he had a little down time.
But this goes beyond that.
This goes back to Donnie Walsh’s tenure running the Knicks, when the only thing that mattered was clearing the decks for 2010. The desired result of that was supposed to be LeBron James and a crowded trophy chest for a litter of Larry O’Brien Trophies; the actual result was Amar’e Stoudemire, Anthony, and one playoff series victory.
That’s what goes to Oklahoma City now, riding shotgun with Melo, almost a decade’s worth of plans – careful, haphazard, and everything in between.
By the end, this is probably about as good a deal as the Knicks could have hoped for, even if on paper it seems a pittance in exchange for a player that – silly rankings be damned – is still a Top 25 player in the league, one who is still an elite scorer.
(For those who have waited patiently for this day and rejoice in Anthony’s departure, remember that on the coming nights when Kristaps Porzingis is in foul trouble – or out with an injury – and Tim Hardaway Jr. is the one putting up 20 shots a night instead. I predict it will look quite different.)
Still: The Knicks haven’t handcuffed themselves fiscally as they would have done if they’d accepted the Rockets’ best deal. It’s hard to imagine a Cavaliers package that could have been as good. They probably get a usable trade chip in Kanter, and since the draft pick is actually the original property of the Bulls, who project to be woeful, it could be a fairly high spot, maybe 31 or 32.
The thing is, this had to happen. This was a marriage whose time had ended, a relationship so badly frayed that the prospect of starting the season with Melo on the roster had become implausible. The fact that Melo had already become a non-entity in the franchise’s own mind – erased from the books the way the authors of Soviet textbooks used to air-brush past czars – is enough evidence of that.
For Anthony, the mission remains the same as it was in February 2011, when he first donned No. 7 and took the floor as a Knick. He’s still looking for a team to alter his legacy, carrying each other deep in the playoffs. Maybe Westbrook can be the wing man Stoudemire could never be early in his time here, that Porzingis wasn’t yet ready to be late.
For the Knicks? Their mission is the same, too, stranded in the wilderness, biding their time, waiting for a sign that the proper path awaits them. In the end, you wonder if either the team or its former foundation will ever find what they’re looking for.