Carmelo Anthony: Trades to Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers came close

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Carmelo Anthony said Thursday that potential trades involving the New York Knicks with both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets fell through at the last minute.

"A deal was done with Houston early, then for some reason, whatever happened behind the scenes, it didn't go through," the 33-year-old Anthony told SiriusXM Radio. "It fell through, then we had to really start paying attention and thinking about other options."

One option became a union with reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook and offseason acquisition Paul George in Oklahoma City. In fact, Anthony thought he would be paired with George in draft-night deals that would have sent both players to the Cavaliers.

"Actually, it was funny because me and (George were) supposed to be in Cleveland on draft night," Anthony said. "We were communicating about that. The deal was actually done, and it got called off on draft night, so me and PG stayed connected throughout the course of the (offseason). We never even talked about OKC, though."

Those talks began quickly, with Anthony waiving his no-trade clause and his $8.1 trade kicker to accommodate the deal that was completed Monday. He has two years and $54 million left on his contract, including a player option for $27.9 million on the 2018-19 season.

Anthony was sent to Oklahoma City for center Enes Kanter, forward Doug McDermott and the Chicago Bulls' 2018 second-round draft pick from the Thunder.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Anthony, a 10-time All-Star and 14-year NBA veteran, joined the Thunder having appeared in 976 career games (all starts) while averaging 24.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.1 steals.

Anthony was acquired by the Knicks from the Denver Nuggets on Feb. 22, 2011. He finished his Knicks career as the team's seventh all-time leading scorer with 10,186 points and No. 3 on the franchise's scoring average list at 24.7 points per game.

Anthony currently ranks 25th on the NBA's all-time scoring list (24,156 points) and he is one of six players in league history (alongside Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce) to record 24,000 points, 6,000 rebounds, 2,500 assists, 1,000 steals and 1,000 3-point field goals.

Anthony led the NBA in scoring during the 2012-13 season (28.7 points per game) and during the 2009-10 season, he became the third youngest player in NBA history to reach the 12,000-point plateau (behind James and Bryant).

A three-time Olympic gold medalist, Anthony is the U.S. Olympic men's national team's all-time leading scorer.

Anthony helped lead Syracuse to a national championship during his freshman season in which he was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. He was originally selected by the Nuggets with the third overall pick in the 2003 draft.