Carmelo Anthony said Wednesday he doesn’t want to be traded, denying a report that he would welcome an exit from New York.
MIKE D’ANTONI RESIGNS AS HEAD COACH OF KNICKS
“No, no, no, no. Let’s nip this in the bud right now. No,” Anthony said after the Knicks’ morning shootaround.
“I don’t know where that came from. I’m tired of hearing it. It came out this morning from I guess an anonymous source. I’m tired of anonymous sources. I don’t want to be traded. I don’t know where that foolishness came from, so let’s put a cap on that and make this the last time I hear about that.”
Anthony also denied there is a rift with Mike D’Antoni, saying he supported the coach “100 percent.”
The Knicks have lost six in a row, with Anthony taking much of the blame. The back page of Wednesday’s New York Post ran a headline saying “Melo Wants Out!” The trade deadline is Thursday, a little more than a year after the Knicks acquired Anthony from Denver.
But Anthony called the report “nonsense,” adding that he’s faced adversity throughout his career and “I’ve never ran from it and I’m not about to pick today to start running from it.”
“I’ve only been here a year,” Anthony added. “I don’t want to leave right now, so I’m here to stay.”
Anthony also said he believes fellow players and team officials prefer he stays, saying he received text messages from teammates asking him about the story and telling him they don’t want him to go.
According to the Post, Anthony became so discontent with the Knicks after Monday’s loss in Chicago that he told a confidant that he preferred to be dealt. The report said he was unhappy in part because he believed D’Antoni and interim general manager Glen Grunwald do not trust him.
“I don’t think that’s true at all,” forward Amare Stoudemire said. “Melo loves the city of New York, he loves playing for the Knicks. So I don’t think that’s true at all.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
