New York Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony has admitted "my window is closing" and that he's "trying to bring a championship to New York ASAP," but rumors suggest that the clock is ticking on his career as a member of the Knicks as well.
Although the Knicks can offer Anthony the most money, he still has the option to opt out of his current contract to become a free agent on July 1 during the 2014 free agency campaign.
There has been much small chatter about a possible union with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, and Anthony, who once downplayed those rumors, is now taking a different approach about not "ruling anything out."
"As far as ruling anything out, I haven't even, to be honest with you, thought about anything past today," Anthony said on Saturday in Queens, where he was hosting a youth camp. "My mind is not even thinking about next season, next offseason right now. I'm just trying to do what I do this offseason to get right, work out, train and get right and prepare myself for this season. When that time comes, I'll deal with that."
If Anthony opts out of N.Y. he would lose a significant amount of money. If he inks another deal with another team, he can sign a four-year contract worth $95,897,372, according to calculations by ESPN salary-cap expert Larry Coon. If Anthony opts out and re-signs with the Knicks, he can sign a five-year contract worth $129,135,806. That's a difference of $33,238,434.
Although Anthony isn't ready to discuss his future, he has been very pleased thus far with the Knicks offseason moves, particularly the trade for Andrea Bargnani from Toronto and the signing and resigning of Metta World Peace and J.R. Smith.
"I told y'all from the beginning I thought that was a steal," Anthony said of Bargnani. "I hate to lose (Marcus) Camby and (Steve) Novak, but you get something like that back in return, it's kind of a win-win situation. Hopefully, Bargnani's going to come in and prove something, come in with a chip on his shoulder and be ready to rock.
"It's hard for me to call him Metta," Anthony added of the former Ron Artest. "To have him on our team right now brings more toughness, adds more toughness to our team, some more defensive presence. And he also can be a threat on the offensive end, so you have to respect that."
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