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Evaluating if Carmelo Anthony trade is the worst deal in OKC Thunder history

By Austin Sternlicht

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - APRIL 15: Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Oklahoma City Thunder tries to keep the ball away from Jae Crowder #99 of the Utah Jazz during the first half of a NBA playoff game at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on April 15, 2018 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Carmelo Anthony;
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - APRIL 15: Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Oklahoma City Thunder tries to keep the ball away from Jae Crowder #99 of the Utah Jazz during the first half of a NBA playoff game at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on April 15, 2018 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Carmelo Anthony; /
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Carmelo Anthony
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – APRIL 03: Oklahoma City Thunder Forward Carmelo Anthony (7) looking to make a play while Golden State Warriors Forward Draymond Green (23) plays defense on April 03, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City Oklahoma (Photo by Torrey Purvey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Facts and stats clearly point to negatives:

On an episode of the OKC Dream Team podcast, ESPN Thunder reporter Royce Young argued trading for Anthony was the worst move in Thunder history. Here is some of what he said.

"…it lowered their floor. It made them more complicated…to me I look at game five against the Jazz when Westbrook and Paul George had this symmetry between them. That could have been the season… Carmelo Anthony was just kind of this… he was the fart in the room, right? It just complicated matters."

For the whole season, Melo felt like the proverbial elephant in the room. The future Hall-of-Famer was basically having the same offensive role as Serge Ibaka. Every time Melo did his jab steps, you knew a shot was going up. By the end of the season, few, if any people had any confidence it was going in. Every mid-range iso post up felt forced and out of sync with the rest of the offense.

By playoff time, he was nearly unplayable. It seemed like every critical Jazz possession found Melo getting switched onto the ball and ultimately being blown by for an easy shot. He was a team-worst -43 the final four games of the series. Simply put, the team was much better with Anthony on the bench.

Hoodie, Olympic or otherwise is Melo’s self importance tainted?

This transitions nicely into the biggest problem with Anthony, his ego. As a former superstar, Anthony simply wasn’t able to grasp the fact he isn’t the player he once was. As a result, it was too difficult for Billy Donovan to take Anthony out at times. Even when it became clear in-game five the Thunder were better without him during the monster 25 point comeback, Anthony wanted to get back in, ultimately leading to a conflict with Assistant Coach Mo Cheeks.

We saw what this team could have looked like without Anthony. In arguably the team’s most impressive win of the season, a 20 point beat down of the Warriors in Oracle Arena, Anthony sprained his ankle six minutes in and was held out the remainder of the game. Is it a coincidence the Thunder’s best win of year came without arguably its biggest liability, probably not.

The cost to nab Carmelo Anthony:

While trading for Anthony limited the rosters potential, it also gutted some major depth. I had written before the Anthony trade about how the 2018 Thunder could have been their deepest team ever. That quickly went away after giving up Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott. Both players could have been unbelievably valuable this past season.

Kanter is great in the regular season in that he can rack up points and rebounds. Plus, against bad matchups, he would be more than comfortable going to the bench and understanding his role. McDermott could have provided valuable shooting as well as another player accepting of his role.  Anthony didn’t provide any of these qualities and the team paid for it.

Honestly, the best and coolest part of the Anthony trade was the moments before the season realizing that one of the most popular players in this era chose to come to OKC. As a reminder, he had to sign off on a deal thanks to his no-trade clause. But once the season started, it became fairly obvious things weren’t going to work out.

The Thunder could have easily been a 55 or more win team without the ten-time all-star. As Melo has proved time and time again, he is not a winning player that makes teams better. The Thunder swung for the fences but ultimately struck out.

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