You are here
Home > Basketball > Carmelo Anthony will participate in informal workouts with New York Knicks on Thursday, per report

Carmelo Anthony will participate in informal workouts with New York Knicks on Thursday, per report

Carmelo Anthony will participate in informal workouts with the New York Knicks Thursday, according to Jake Fischer of Sports Illustrated. The workouts, which have been taking place at Columbia University, have featured multiple players not currently on the Knicks roster, including former No. 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet according to Ian Begley of SNY. 

The Knicks currently have only 19 players under contract for training camp. The maximum is 20, so if anyone not currently on the team stands out during these scrimmages, they could theoretically earn an invite to camp. That training camp invite would not be worth much to a player like Anthony, however, as the Knicks have 15 players with guaranteed contracts for next season. That means that their roster is functionally set for opening night barring an injury or a trade. Anthony could theoretically earn a training camp slot, but it wouldn’t do him much good in terms of actually returning to the NBA

From a roster perspective, it would be difficult to envision a fit for Anthony on this team. He is, at this stage of his career, purely a power forward. New York invested almost all of their cap space into that position this offseason. Currently, their four highest-paid players are power forwards that were signed in July. Those players — Julius RandleBobby PortisTaj Gibson and Marcus Morris, along with rookie standout Mitchell Robinson, No. 3 overall pick RJ Barrett and former No. 9 overall pick Kevin Knox — should represent New York’s entire front-court rotation. There are no minutes available for Anthony. 

That might not have been the case had the Knicks used their cap space to sign two superstars this offseason, such as the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving pairing that ultimately landed across the river with the Brooklyn Nets. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported in July that the Knicks were interested in a potential reunion under those circumstances. While Anthony has never been a perfect role player, they would have had so little financial flexibility leftover to fill out their rotation that signing Anthony for the minimum would have had some appeal. 

Of course, the Knicks ultimately failed to sign a superstar this offseason. They have instead geared their roster around younger players, making the fit for Anthony at 35 years old a questionable one. Having a player of his stature at informal workouts could be beneficial to younger players, but once season begins in earnest, the Knicks seem likely to devote their resources toward developing the players that could be part of their future rather than placating any that were part of their past. Anthony could still land on an NBA roster this season, but it probably won’t be the Knicks. 

FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsAppBloggerShare
Tutorialspoint
el-admin
el-admin
EltasZone Sportswriters, Sports Analysts, Opinion columnists, editorials and op-eds. Analysis from The Zone Team
Top