A reading of the NBA tea leaves seems to have Carmelo Anthony being a part of the Houston Rockets in the not-to-distant future.
According to Marc Stein of The New York Times:
Carmelo Anthony is planning to sign with the Houston Rockets upon clearing waivers in coming days, according to two people with knowledge of his plans.
Anthony is unlikely to become a free agent before next week, at the earliest, because his pending trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks could take several days to be officially completed, according to the people, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the trade publicly.
The Hawks have pledged to release Anthony once the trade is complete, according to the people. That will allow him to earn $27.9 million salary next season — as stipulated by the original five-year contract he signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2014 — and then sign with Houston upon clearing waivers. He is expected to receive a one-year deal from the Rockets at the league’s veteran minimum salary of $2.4 million.
Anthony will clear waivers 48 hours after Atlanta formally lets him go, enabling him to sign with the team of his choice. Rockets officials have been operating under the belief that Anthony will soon be Houston-bound since meeting with him face-to-face during summer-league play in Las Vegas this month.
Anthony is getting prepared to join the Rockets and has been working out with his buddy and Rockets point god Chris Paul.
Overtime has footage of CP3 and Melo putting in work together under the tutelage of Travelle Gaines who also trains Jimmy Butler and Quincy Pondexter
CP3 in the lab right now with Carmelo 😱 @CP3 @AthleticGaines pic.twitter.com/3TsFXfKGOY
— Overtime (@overtime) July 26, 2018
James Harden also seems to be on board with adding Melo to the mix,saying this to the Houston Chronicle during a recent community appearance:
It would be a great acquisition for us. Melo’s a proven vet. He just wants to win at this point, so it would be great for him to be on our team. The current roster we have now, we’ve got good guys back and we keep making forward progress.”
