NBA free agency began on Monday, and since then several teams have made their pitches to All-Star small forward Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony’s first meeting took place on Tuesday, with the Chicago Bulls. He spent the entire day with people from the organization, including friend Joakim Noah, head coach Tom Thibodeau and MVP point guard Derrick Rose. Many consider the Bulls to be the frontrunner to sign Anthony.
On Wednesday, Anthony spent time with two franchises in Texas. First he went to the Houston Rockets. He met with stars Dwight Howard and James Harden. The Rockets put on a glitzy performance to try to appeal to Anthony, which included video boards and a printed book, reports Matt Moore of CBS Sports.
Anthony spent the second half of Wednesday with the Dallas Mavericks. The meeting lasted two hours, which is considerably shorter than Anthony’s trips to Chicago and Houston. This conference included owner Mark Cuban and star Dirk Nowitzki.
Next up for Anthony is the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. Lakers’ star Kobe Bryant returned to Los Angeles from his vacation in Europe to meet with Anthony. While the Lakers do not have a head coach right now, Bryant, general manager Mitch Kupchak and president Jeanie Buss will be the key negotiators in trying to entice Anthony to come to Hollywood.
If Anthony does decide to join the Lakers, free agent Pau Gasol would be much more inclined to return to the team. Gasol has also been in contact with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Bulls, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN LA.
After meeting with the Lakers, Anthony will return to New York to meet with the Knicks before making a decision. He has spent the last three and a half seasons with the Knicks.