Report: Knicks won't change Melo offer

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

The New York Knicks have made their pitch for Carmelo Anthony.

And that's as far as they're going to go, according to a report in Newsday.

"We're not going any further now," a source told Newsday. "It's out of our hands."

The Nuggets now have to decide if they take the Knicks' current deal, which has them prepared to surrender the likes of Danilo Gallinari and Raymond Felton along with Wilson Chandler in a trade package for Anthony, according to sources, or if they continue to try to make a deal with the New Jersey Nets.

"The Nuggets have known everything since Day 1 [about my intentions], so just because we don't tell you guys everything, they know everything," Anthony said Sunday after the All-Star Game.

But a resolution to the season-long trade speculation could come at any moment, landing him with the Knicks or the Nets. Or it could go right until Thursday's deadline -- if it happens at all -- which is what his wife, La La Vazquez, thinks.

"I do, I do, I really do, because I've been hearing about this for so many months and I was thinking, 'OK, something's going to happen,' " she said before the All-Star Game. "So at this point, I do believe that it probably is going to go down to the wire. If anything, who is to say, it's just not, stay where you are? You know?"

Anthony met with the Nets late Saturday afternoon at a Los Angeles-area restaurant, according to sources briefed on the discussion.

Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and minority owner Jay-Z spent the 40-minute session informing Anthony of the club's short-term and long-term vision, centered upon the Nets' scheduled move to Brooklyn for the start of the 2012-13 season and their confidence in building a championship-caliber team around him, largely through free agency.

"It was a fantastic meeting, trust me," Prokhorov said, according to CNBC.com. "No words, live music, excellent atmosphere. We looked into each other's eyes. Just real man talk."

Asked at Staples Center before the All-Star Game if he had any news on a deal, Prokhorov said: "I don't care."

Anthony, meanwhile, told TNT's Craig Sager during the All-Star Game that he will be with the Nuggets for Tuesday night's game against Memphis.

After starting the day with another round of meetings on his future, Anthony contributed eight points and seven rebounds to the West's 148-143 victory over the East in the 60th All-Star Game.

Anthony had said he hoped to resolve his future this weekend while the entire basketball world gathered in Los Angeles, but 'Melo seemed mellow about missing that soft deadline.

"It didn't overshadow anything for me," said Anthony, a West starter. "I had a great time. I had fun. I still enjoyed this weekend, regardless of what was going on and what has been said. Me and my family and my friends had a blast this weekend. ... I said I hoped to have a word by today, one way or another. I've been up early dealing with this and all the festivities, but the night is still young on this side [of the country]."

Sources said Anthony was noncommittal after hearing the Nets' presentation, declining to say whether or not he would sign the three-year, $65 million contract extension that New Jersey has established as a prerequisite for completing a trade with Denver.

"I was just listening," Anthony said of his meeting with the Nets. "I didn't give anybody a definitive answer. It was a good meeting to have. I'm not going to talk about the selling points and all that stuff. It was interesting. It's hard for me to sit here and talk about what the Nets can do, because I'm not in a Nets uniform."

The Nuggets do have a trade offer on the table from the Nets that both teams have already agreed upon. Sources confirmed to ESPN.com a Friday report from the Bergen (N.J.) Record that New Jersey has agreed in principle to send prized rookie Derrick Favors, former All-Star guard Devin Harris, Troy Murphy (and his expiring contract), Ben Uzoh and four first-round picks to Denver for Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Melvin Ely and Renaldo Balkman. As ESPN.com reported Thursday night, Denver would then use at least one of those future first-round picks to package with Murphy -- either in this trade or in a separate deal -- to a third team yet to be determined.

Photos: Carmelo Anthony's career

MeloDrama is over. Enjoy photos of the newest Knick: Carmelo Anthony

Much of the league, nonetheless, continues to operate under the assumption that the All-Star forward remains desperate to wind up with the Knicks when all is said and done.

"I think we made a very good tactical decision to force [the] Knicks to pay as much as they can," Prokhorov told CNBC.com. "So it's very good, it's very interesting, it's very competitive."

The Knicks meanwhile, released a statement Sunday, insisting that executive chairman James Dolan, president of basketball operations Donnie Walsh and head coach Mike D'Antoni are on the same page in their pursuit of Anthony, and Isiah Thomas isn't involved in it.

Without mentioning either person by name, Walsh, Dolan and D'Antoni said: "We want to make it abundantly clear that we have been in constant communication throughout this process and the three of us are in complete agreement with everything that we are currently working on.

"Together, we will do what is best for the long-term success of the franchise. In addition, we want to make it clear that no one from outside our organization has been involved in this process in any way. We will have no further comment at this time."

When asked directly if he was consulting with Dolan, Thomas wouldn't say.

"I have no comment," Thomas told ESPNNewYork.com after his Florida International University team lost to rival Florida Atlantic 80-78 in overtime Saturday to remain in last place in the Sun Belt Conference's East division.

"I don't feel it is my place to comment about any of this stuff," Thomas said. "I want the Knicks to do well and I definitely want Jim to do well."

ESPN.com's Marc Stein, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard, ESPNNewYork.com's Andrew Marchand and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe