If the Chicago Bulls or Houston Rockets are going to land star free agent Carmelo Anthony, who is going to opt out of his contract later this month, they are going to have to clear some cap room. Barring a potential sign-and-trade with the New York Knicks, each of these two teams will be looking to sell off some players in potential cap cuts.
According to Yahoo Sports, the Bulls would have to make a couple moves prior to offering Anthony a contract.
For Chicago to make its bid for Anthony, it will need to amnesty the contract of Carlos Boozer and unload forward Taj Gibson and at least one more player.
In addition to Boozer and Gibson, Chicago would likely have to find a trade partner for Mike Dunleavy, who is set to earn $3.1 million in 2014-2015.
For the Rockets, it’s pretty much the same scenario, at least according to that Yahoo report.
The Rockets need to shed the contracts of Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin to clear most of the space to sign Anthony to a max contract. Because those players are moving into the expiring year of their contracts, they could potentially appeal to New York in sign-and-trade scenarios that would deliver Anthony his full max contract of four years, $90 million-plus.
The Knicks could very well take on those two contracts in a sign-and-trade deal, which would enable them to either sell Asik and Lin off during the season as expiring contracts or go into the 2015 offseason with a whole host of money to spend on potential free agents.
It is also highly likely that Chandler Parsons and draft picks would be involved in a potential Rockets-Knicks swap. If Phil Jackson decides that’s the direction he wants to go and Anthony decides on the Rockets, this deal makes a lot of sense.
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