Denver Nuggets starts to listen to Carmelo Anthony trade offering

Denver Nuggets starts to listen to Carmelo Anthony trade offering

For months, the press, fans, players, and GMs have speculated on where Carmelo Anthony in chris andersen jersey will get traded. It’s a hot topic because the star forward can opt-out of his contract next July and become an unrestricted free agent. The Denver Nuggets' resistance to trading star forward Carmelo Anthony in golden state warriors jersey is fading away, according to sources with knowledge of Denver's thinking.

The Nuggets still aren't aggressively shopping Anthony in warriors jerseys and haven't withdrawn their longstanding offer of a contract extension, but numerous sources told ESPN.com that Denver officials have in recent days let other teams know for the first time that they will listen to pitches after previously resisting such discussions.

Reports have persisted for weeks that Anthony in houston rockets jersey, who can become a free agent at the end of the coming season, wants out. ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher reported Aug. 16 that it was "a matter of when, not if, Anthony and the Nuggets will go their separate ways," while CBSSports.com quoted "multiple sources" last week as saying that the 26-year-old "has not wavered in his desire to be dealt" and that the New Jersey Nets are making the hardest active pitch for Anthony in rockets jerseys. Although Anthony in hakeem olajuwon jersey has not made any such declarations publicly, it appears that Nuggets management is growing increasingly resigned to the fact that they won't be able to change their franchise player's mind.

One source close to the situation told ESPN.com that Anthony has been no more communicative with the organization since the hiring of Masai Ujiri in los angeles clippers jersey as Denver's new vice president of basketball operations in late August than he was before Ujiri's return to the Nuggets. Ujiri in clippers jerseys began his front-office career as a Nuggets scout during Anthony's rookie season in 2003-04 and spoke optimistically about arranging a face-to-face meeting with Anthony in james worthy jersey -- which sources say has not yet taken place -- and trying to sell him on the team's plans for the future at his introductory press conference. The Nuggets, during Ujiri's first two weeks in the office, consistently told teams calling to register trade interest in Anthony that they weren't ready to discuss the subject.

Trading Anthony in kobe bryant jersey, however, is not as simple as merely seeking out the best deal or even recruiting a third team to help facilitate a trade, because of Anthony's ability to become a free agent in July. It's widely assumed in NBA front-office circles that any team trading for Anthony would expect him to commit to a contract extension as part of the deal -- as Kevin Garnett did when Minnesota sent him to Boston in the summer of 2007 -- which gives Anthony some measure of input into his trade destination.

Yet sources say that Denver, after watching LeBron James in lakers jerseys and Chris Bosh in los angeles lakers jersey devastate Cleveland and Toronto, respectively, by bolting to Miami in July, is determined to avoid the same fate with Anthony and will ultimately work with him on a trade before the February trading deadline if the alternative is potentially losing him outright in free agency. Ujiri, in particular, just lived through the Bosh saga as a member of Toronto's front office before taking the Nuggets' job.