Melo: "I Never Said I Wanted to Be Traded"

Carmelo Anthony, who has been at the center of various trade speculations for months now, showed up to media day on Monday wearing a Denver Nuggets jerseys, almost as if to suggest that he has no interest in joining another team. "I'm here today. Whatever the future holds, it holds," said Anthony on Monday. "I'm leaving my options open right now. At the end of the season, I'll sit down with my team, I'll sit down with the Nuggets, and we'll talk about it. This has been a long summer. I'm just excited to get back to the court. I've never said I wanted to be traded. I never once said anything about trade talk." While it may be true that Melo himself never said a word about his potential trade, the Nuggets have certainly been talking with teams that would like to sign Anthony. In one potential deal, Melo would be sent to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for two players and two future first-round draft picks. According to a report from ESPN.com, however, "While Denver has not totally nixed the deal, the source told [ESPN's Chris] Broussard the financial implications make it very unlikely to happen in its current form."

The trade talks started back in June, when Melo declined a three-year, $65-million extension offer from Denver. Ever since then, the trade speculations and rumors have seemingly not stopped. "There's been a lot of speculation, a lot of rumors going on this summer about where I'm going to end up, the Nuggets want to trade me, I want to be traded," said the 3-time All-Star. "That's for my team and front office to discuss. I'm here to focus on basketball and training camp." Meanwhile, various NBA figures have chimed in on Melo's situation. Melo's Nuggets teammate J.R. Smith remains hopeful that Anthony will continue wearing the blue and gold; "I'm expecting him to be here. I'm expecting and hoping," Smith said. "I talked to him a couple of days ago and he said he was going to be here today. He's a man of his word so I wasn't surprised when he showed up." Chauncey Billups, who has been playing with Anthony since 2008, said, "He knows that the city loves him. I don't have to tell him that. He knows that we love playing with him. I don't have to tell him that. He knows everything. I really don't have to recruit Melo." Finally, Nuggets VP Masai Ujiri said, "we're going to keep talking. Melo is a Nugget now, and we're excited about that."

(Sources: ESPN.com)

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