Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 NBA season
By Simon Smith
3. The Carmelo Anthony dilemma is a problem
As a 10-time All-Star, going from being the centerpiece of the offense for his entire career to being the third option was a significant change in role for Anthony. To his considerable credit, this never became an issue over the course of then season in a public sense, as Thunder head coach Billy Donovan pointed out recently:
"“Carmelo I think has done a great job coming in. First thing was obviously changing positions for him, going from a small forward to a power forward, I think coming into a new role and trying to figure out how he can fit in. And I don’t want to use the term reinvent himself but maybe playing a role different for him from the majority of his career and some of the sacrifices he’s had to make.”"
Despite Donovan’s positive comments, Anthony put a dampener on things when asked shortly after at his season-ending exit interview if he would be comfortable with coming off the bench next season:
"“Yeah, I’m not sacrificing no bench role. That’s out of the question.”"
Additionally, Anthony added:
Melo on what kind of role fits him going forward, says it was "for the sake of this season ... As far as being effective as that type of player, I don't think I can be effective as that type of player."
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 28, 2018
Shortly afterwards, Thunder general manager Sam Presti was still supportive of Anthony despite his comments:
Presti on Melo: “I’m gonna reiterate one thing because it’s important: His comments at the end of the year are not reflective of his approach this yr. He put both feet into that. He has to decide if he wants to do another year of trying to be a stretch player." 1/2
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) May 2, 2018
In 78 regular season games, Anthony averaged 16.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in 32.1 minutes per game. Furthermore, he shot at a 40.4 percent clip from the field, by far the worst return of his career. Additionally, Anthony’s usage rate dipped significantly to 22.6, the lowest rate since his rookie season in 2003-04.
However, it was the postseason in which Anthony’s slide was most pronounced. In six games, Anthony averaged 11.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 32.3 minutes per game, which featured shooting tab 21.4 percent from 3-point range. Notably, Anthony averaged just 25.5 minutes per game over the final two games of the series, with the Thunder seemingly better off when Anthony sat on the bench:
Carmelo Anthony on-court vs. the Jazz: 194 minutes, -58
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) April 28, 2018
The Thunder with Carmelo Anthony off-court vs. the Jazz: 94 minutes, +32
Moving forward, Anthony has a player option on the final year of his contract, valued at $27.9 million. Naturally, it’s going to be difficult to see Anthony willingly forego that amount of money considering he will soon turn 34 and is clearly past his prime.
With Melo seemingly unwilling to accept a role off the bench, the Thunder find themselves facing somewhat of a dilemma. They could enter a buyout agreement, thus enabling the Thunder to move forward without this distraction, and also allowing Anthony to pursue a situation more to his liking. The other option is to find a trading partner for Anthony, which is a possibility due to the expiring nature of his current deal.
However, considering his age, the likelihood of receiving a highly impactful player in return for Anthony is low. Furthermore, the Thunder are likely to receive offers for players with multiple years remaining on their existing deals, thus eating into the Thunder’s plans moving forward.
So after going all in with Anthony, the Thunder now find themselves in an awkward predicament this summer.