Carmelo’s actions prove the Knicks are still king of New York

With all-due respect to the New Jersey Nets, the New York Knicks will always be kings of New York City. Nothing could be a bigger testament to that statement than Carmelo Anthony’s current interest, or lack there of, in going to the New Jersey Nets, who will be playing in Brooklyn two seasons from now.

However, only time will tell just how defiant Anthony is in his quest to be a New York Knick. But to this point, Anthony is risking, and has risked, a lot of money in order to keep the big dream alive. If you don’t already know, Anthony has a $65 million contract on the table, and he isn’t signing it as a Denver Nugget—or so he says. Now, the media will keep telling you that he’s putting himself at risk, because nobody knows how much less Anthony will make should the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement drop the value of a max contract. However, that view negates how big of a risk Anthony is currently taking.

First of all, Anthony’s not playing all that well. He’s averaging 5 fewer points than he did just a season ago, and his shooting has gone down the drain. That drop in efficiency, over an entire season, could make Anthony less valuable on the free agent market. Now, in all likelihood, he’s going to get a maximum contract next season even if he averages 5 points for the rest of the NBA year. So while he does risk lowering the value of his stock, the fact that he’s falling from such a high cliff makes the risk here quite negligible.

However, an injury to his knee, ankle, shoulder or whatever else may do him in, could cost Anthony millions of dollars. I don’t want to be the grim reaper or anything, but even the Knicks would have to question signing a 27-year old with 8 years in the league to a maximum contract if he’s coming off a busted ACL or microfracture surgery. Now, those are injuries that don’t happen everyday, but no one would be surprised to see it either. And should Anthony get hurt, he might be hard to insure, and Knicks management may not wan to pay him maximum money without that insurance.

So Anthony isn’t exactly going about this season with a whole lot of confidence. He’s risking millions of dollars to play for a team and a city that he apparently loves, New York. Thus, to people like Michael Wilbon who call the New York Knicks the most overrated franchise in all of sports, he should tell that to Anthony. Apparently, as far as ‘Melo is concerned, the Knicks are more than an underperforming franchise, they are a risk worth taking, because in his eyes, New York City looks like a million bucks—and then some!

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