I think it is a fair assumption to say that Carmelo Anthony’s inaugural season in OKC did not go as well as he ( and the Thunder) would have liked.
Forming a “big 3” with Russell Westbrook and Paul George, Melo would be the third option and obvious adjustments would have to be made to his game. Hopes that he could revive the mythical “Olympic Melo” would be the best fitting version were never realized and what we saw was an even more inefficient player who suffered through the worst statistical season of his 15 year career.
His defensive liabilities also further hampered his effectiveness, as teams looked to exploit him in favorable matchups as often as they could.
When asked about possibly coming off the pine next season, Melo shot that down decisively:
I’m not sacrificing no bench role. I think everybody knows I’ve sacrificed damn near everything, and was willing to sacrifice nearly everything for this situation to work out.
Melo asked about possibly coming off the bench: "I'm not sacrificing no bench role. So that's out of the question."
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 28, 2018
Considering he’s coming off a season where he averaged 16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game on a chilly 40.3 field goal percentage, if he chose to opt out of his current deal, he would most certainly command far less than the $27,928,140 left on the last year of his current deal.
