Brooklyn Nets rumors: Carmelo Anthony-for-Jeremy Lin deal in talks

The latest Brooklyn Nets rumors include a doozy, with reports the Nets are in talks with the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Carmelo Anthony for Jeremy Lin.

Brooklyn Nets rumors are bubbling with a report the Nets are in talks with the Oklahoma City Thunder about forward Carmelo Anthony.

Mitch Lawrence of the Sporting News reported Tuesday the Thunder are looking to get something for Anthony, with Brooklyn guard Jeremy Lin the apparent target for Oklahoma City.

It was reported by ESPN last week the Thunder and Anthony had mutually agreed to part ways as a means of getting Anthony’s $27.9 million salary off what would be a record $310 million payroll and luxury tax bill. Moving Anthony would deliver OKC more than $100 million in relief.

Oklahoma City looking to get something for Carmelo Anthony and talking to Brooklyn about a deal, with Jeremy Lin potentially going to OKC, per sources. Nets looking to get pick(s). Want to move Lin and would buy out Melo.
— Mitch Lawrence (@Mitch_Lawrence) July 11, 2018

Anthony did not exercise his early termination option by the June 23 deadline, locking in the $27.9 million due in the final year of the five-year, $124 million contract he signed to remain with the New York Knicks in July 2014.

The Thunder acquired Anthony, who waived his no-trade clause to facilitate a trade last Sept. 25 that sent him to Oklahoma City, with Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott and a 2018 second-round pick going to the Knicks in return.

There are a couple of potential snags in an Anthony and picks-for-Lin deal.

According to the trade checker at RealGM, there would need to be additional pieces to the deal to make it work. While Anthony has agreed to (again) waive his no-trade provision, the mechanics of the deal don’t stand up to trade rules in the collective bargaining agreement.

With just Lin going the other way, the Nets can’t receive more than 150 percent of Lin’s contract value in a deal, because it would put Brooklyn over the cap.

Lin’s $12.5 million salary doesn’t come close to balancing out Anthony’s $27.9 million.

So without either getting a third team involved or adding either Allen Crabbe‘s $18.5 million salary or the $15.4 million contract of DeMarre Carroll, the math doesn’t come together.

Going beyond that, however, it just doesn’t seem to fit with Brooklyn’s plan to clear future cap space. The deals of Lin and Carroll expire after this season, so there is no future benefit gained.

If Crabbe were included in an unlikely potential deal, the Nets would at least move his $18.5 million player option for 2019-20.

For his part, Lin doesn’t think there is anything to the rumors, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post:

Jeremy Lin had said if #Nets were planning to trade him they’d tell him. I asked him if he’d gotten that call yet. “No, I didn’t. My agent called me just to clarify. But no, I don’t think there’s any. I don’t think that has any truth to it.” @JLin7
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) July 11, 2018

Anthony took on a lesser role playing with Russell Westbrook and Paul George in Oklahoma City last season and had the worst season of his career, not just in terms of per game averages but also efficiency.

Anthony averaged 16.2 points — the first time he’s averaged less than 20 per game in his 15-year career — to go with 5.8 rebounds and a career-worst 1.3 assists in 32.1 minutes per game. His shooting also cratered at .404/.357/.767.

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The overall field goal and free throw percentages were the lowest of Anthony’s career, though he did knock down a career-high 169 3-pointers.

Moving Anthony would knock $107 million off Oklahoma City’s books for 2018-19 between the $27.9 salary and the tax impact. Anthony, for his part, would agree to a trade that allowed him to be waived and become an unrestricted free agent.

The 10-time All-Star was asked to change his role from a ball-dominant wing to a catch-and-shoot stretch-4, a change Anthony struggled to accept.

Oklahoma City, it is believed, never expected Anthony would not opt to use his ETO and the player expressed frustration with his role after the Thunder were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz.

"I don’t think I can be effective as that type of player. I think I was willing to accept that challenge in that role, but I think I bring a little bit more to the game as far as being more knowledgeable and what I still can do as a basketball player."

Anthony also said taking on a bench role was a non-starter.

While the star power involved in a trade of former New York Knicks teammates Anthony and Lin has headline value, the deal doesn’t work in terms of the salary cap or in more practical terms.

If the Nets do get involved in an Anthony deal, which on the surface appears unlikely, it would only benefit Brooklyn if they clear Crabbe’s option off next season’s cap.

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But since general manager Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson have said 2018-19 will be judged more on wins and losses, it’s hard to see how moving Crabbe or any other player for dead cap space accomplishes that goal, either.