STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Carmelo Anthony believes the New York Knicks made the right decision in halting contract negotiations with some of their players to focus solely on basketball.
With Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart eligible for extensions but talks going nowhere, the Knicks said last week they were pausing discussions until later in the season and would devote their attention entirely to defending their NBA championship.
Anthony, an All-Star for the Knicks during his Hall of Fame career, said Monday he wasn't alarmed by what he was hearing from a team that should be enjoying happy times.
“I think it’s happier times, I just think things just move so fast now that you get a chance to celebrate the championship, then it's business as usual, right? Business has got to go on,” Anthony said.
“I think it was big for them to stop the conversations, and just, we’ll get to that. We’ll get to that at the end of the season.”
Anthony spoke at NBC Sports studios, where he is preparing for his second season as an analyst for the network's “NBA Showtime” studio show. He will be at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 20 to watch the Knicks raise their championship banner when NBC televises their season opener against LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Anthony and the rest of the team of Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and host Maria Taylor will begin the day at Rockefeller Center, where the studio show will set up on the “Today Show” plaza for the 3 p.m. EDT tipoff of Boston at Detroit.
Towns is eligible for a four-year, $276 million deal. He is due to make $57 million this season and has a $61.1 million player option for 2027-28.
He has been disappointed in the progress of talks after being an All-Star in both seasons since coming to New York and told reporters that the Knicks' statement Friday that they were cutting off negotiations “was news to me.”
Hart will make $21 million this season and the Knicks have an option for 2027-28 at $22.4 million. He said he wasn't frustrated but had previously noted what it could mean for players at the trade deadline in February if there hadn't been progress.
Anthony was represented by Leon Rose, who is now the Knicks president, when he was traded to New York in 2011. A frequent spectator during the team's title run, he believes the players and management will be able to work things out respectfully.
“But whatever’s going to happen is going to happen,” Anthony said. “But right now, let the be all be the be all, which is basketball. Let’s go defend this championship. And I think both parties understand.”
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