Back in January, FanHouse's Chris Tomasson reported that uncertainty about whether Carmelo Anthony would ever be traded had led to other potential deals being held up. Well, 'Melo still hasn't been traded, and we're just days away from the Feb. 24 NBA trade deadline. If 'Melo uncertainty is holding up other trades, something's got to give. And fast.
Consensus is, however, building that the NBA's domino trade is being held up by the Nuggets. As CBS Sports reports, Blazers GM Rich Cho discussed the waiting game on a recent Portland podcast (via PBT).
"It looked like that deal was going to go down with New Jersey. And then that got held up. I don't know if it's still going to go down or something is going to happen with New York or maybe Melo stays there [in Denver], but it does seem to be holding things up a little bit."
It remains unclear exactly what about 'Melo trade rumors have led to a freeze on other moves. The Nets, for instance, have ruled themselves out of bidding for Anthony. They have tradable assets and glaring needs. Are they holding back in case Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke come crawling back? Are teams like Cho's Blazers, the Rockets and the Mavericks waiting to make any move until they know for sure there's no chance they can pull 'Melo?
There are also, of course, extenuating and particular circumstances that might result in lower trade volume for this deadline, as we mentioned Tuesday and PBT's Kurt Helin discussed earlier this week.