In 2011 the New York Knicks made a trade with the Denver Nuggets to acquire superstar small forward, Carmelo Anthony. The trade for Anthony sparked the Knicks and he helped get them into the playoffs, only to be swept by the Celtics in the first round.

Carmelo was born in New York and always wanted to play for the Knicks. He was excited to be there, and Knicks’ fans were ecstatic that he was there.

In 2012 the Knicks made the playoffs again but, once again, were eliminated in the first round. In the offseason that year, the Knicks did everything the could to help Melo out and in 2013 the Knicks got the 2 seed in the east, this time making it to the 2nd round before getting eliminated.

After that playoff run the Knicks started falling below expectations. In 2014 they went under .500 and missed the playoffs, then in 2015 they went 17-65, finishing last in the Eastern conference. That mark set the most losses in Knicks’ history, and landed them the 4th overall pick in the draft.

With that pick, the Knicks selected Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis in his first couple of years has shown so much potential and he is the future of the Knicks. With so many young big men dominating the league right now, building around Porzingis is the best thing to do.

The Knicks can’t do that until they move Anthony. He’s a guy who’s suffered injuries over the past couple of seasons, yet still decided to play in the olympics this past summer. He played for team USA winning his 3rd gold medal, a great accomplishment, but throughout all his loyalty to the Knicks, he rather win a gold medal than win a NBA championship.

In an interview with ESPN at the Rio Olympics Melo said, “I can look back on it when my career is over — if I don’t have an NBA championship ring — and say I had a great career.”

That’s a low blow to any Knicks fan out there. He’s saying that he does not care about winning a championship, he just wanted his 3 gold medals. With a couple years left on his contract, he doesn’t care if he wins or not, he just wants his money.

The past couple months the Knicks have been rumored to be trying to deal Melo. He has come out and said that if the team is right, he will be willing to waive his no-trade clause.
LeBron James, the best player in the NBA, and good friends with Melo, has been complaining about his lack of help on his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Rumor has it that the Knicks offered the Cavs a trade for Carmelo Anthony to go to Cleveland.

Carmelo believes LeBron would want to play with him but everyone knows that if LeBron wanted Melo in Cleveland, the front office would make it happen.

The fact that LeBron isn’t publicly saying he wants to play with Melo should say something. Melo is a good player yes, but he isn’t a superstar top 10 player like some Knicks fans think. If anyone thinks the Knicks can win with Melo then they need to open their eyes and realize that the future is right in front of them with Porzingis.

If the Knicks were smart they would trade Melo, tank this year, and draft high. The best thing for their franchise is to get younger, and aim to win within the next 5-10 years, because Golden State and Cleveland are going to be at the top for probably another 3-5 years.

Carmelo Anthony is not going to help you win in 5-10 years. Trade him now while he still has some value to him and help your franchise out and start aiming towards the future.