Rumor: Miami Heat not expected to pursue Carmelo Anthony
By Wes Goldberg
Carmelo Anthony might be available in a trade, but his salary is too rich for Pat Riley and the Miami Heat.
Carmelo Anthony isn’t the whale Miami Heat president Pat Riley is fishing for, according to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson.
"One person in touch with the Heat said he does not expect a Heat pursuit of Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, who’s available via trade."
As pointed out by Jackson, one reason the Heat aren’t interested is because of Anthony’s salary.
According to HeatHoops.com cap expert Albert Nahmad, Anthony holds a trade kicker of $8.1 million. If he’s traded before July 1, Anthony’s cap hits would be $30.3 million next season and $27.9 million in 2018-19. If he’s traded after July 1, those hits would be $34.4 million in 2017-18 and $27.9 million in 2018-18.
Bringing Anthony on for that salary would severely limit what the Heat could do this offseason. At $30 million-plus, it would make re-signing Dion Waiters or James Johnson extremely difficult. Riley has expressed his desire to make both Waiters and Johnson priorities this summer.
Don’t be mistaken, though. Riley does intend to, as Jackson writes, “explore a select few elite players in trades and free agency.”
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Those players likely include Utah’s Gordon Hayward* (likely to opt out and become a free agent) and possible trade targets Jimmy Butler and Paul George. Just not Carmelo Anthony.
*Hayward will command similar money to Anthony, but at 27 and squarely in his prime, he makes for a better investment than the 32-year-old Anthony.