It has been over three weeks since reports leaked that Melo would be signing his three year extension with the Nuggets.
Since then Melo got married, saw the creation of the South Beach NWO, Amar’e go to the Knicks (and then realize he was kin to Jerry Seinfeld), Chris Paul try to force his way out of New Orleans and the Lakers continue to improve.
You can said that might have swayed Melo’s thinking on his long term options. Here are the details:
Prepare for the Summer of Carmelo. Indeed, what LeBron was to 2010, Carmelo figures to be to 2011. At least, if a report from HoopsWorld’s Alex Kennedy is to be believed. According to Kennedy, sources close to Anthony have indicated that the Nuggets star will eschew signing an extension with Denver in order to become a free agent next summer.
Given that Anthony has had a max offer on the table from the Nuggets for the past several weeks, it would hardly be surprising that he would not re-sign with Denver now; if he was going to, he likely already would have. Still, Anthony has at least the rest of the season to mull over the Nuggets’ offer. The bigger issue is that there will likely be a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) next summer (and possibly a lockout), that would presumably limit the size of contracts. By waiting to sign, Anthony could be forgoing a sizable chunk of change. Again according to Kennedy, Anthony isn’t too worried about these risks, and prefers the freedom of free agency to the certainty of an extension.
The Summer of Melo coming in 2011?
Hopefully he will have a little more tact than Lebron, but only time will tell.