Carmelo Anthony was ready to be teammates with Paul George, only he thought it was going to be on the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This week, the Oklahoma City Thunder officially turned into the latest “superteam” with their acquisition of forward Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks. Paired up now with another player recently acquired in Paul George and reigning NBA MVP Russell Westbrook, the Thunder look poised to make a solid run in the Western Conference this upcoming season which begins soon.
Anthony was ready to be teammates with George over the summer, but the only thing is, he didn’t really envision that being on the Thunder. Rather, Anthony believe that he and the former Indiana Pacers superstar would become new best friends alongside LeBron James in Cleveland with the Cavaliers.
During a Sirius XM interview recently, Anthony admitted that on draft night, both he and George were communicating with one another and were ready to become the newest member of the three-time defending Eastern Conference Champions. However, the deal ultimately ended up falling through, and he also admitted neither of them thought they’d be where they are now.
“Actually, it was funny because me and PG was supposed to be in Cleveland on draft night,” Anthony said as transcribed by ESPN. “We were communicating about that. The deal was actually done, and it got called off on draft night, so me and PG stayed connected throughout the course of the [offseason]. We never even talked about OKC, though.”
Interestingly enough, this isn’t the only place Anthony thought he would wind up over the summer but didn’t in the end. He also admitted that, as was heavily rumored, he was supposed to be heading to another contender in the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets.
“A deal was done with Houston early, then for some reason, whatever happened behind the scenes, it didn’t go through,” Anthony said. “It fell through, then we had to really start paying attention and thinking about other options.”
It was made clear this offseason that Anthony would not be a member of the Knicks when the 2017-18 season got underway, it was just a matter of which organization he would end up calling his new home. Apparently, some nice options were on the table in the form of the Rockets and Cavaliers, but who knows — maybe those falling through could end up being for the best if he and PG-13 can mesh well with Westbrook and this Thunder team makes a serious postseason run.