If the Denver Nuggets ultimately decide to trade Carmelo Anthony, a report indicates the New Jersey Nets remain the "most comfortable" location
Six weeks after Anthony's advisers -- agent Leon Rose, raconteur William Wesley, et Al -- first began making noise that their client wanted to be traded, little of substance has changed to push the story forward. Sources tell CBSSports.com that Melo's camp remains insistent upon a trade to New York, New Jersey or Chicago. (Two executives expressed doubts Thursday about Houston's level of involvement in the sweepstakes, saying Anthony's people have not been pushing a Rockets deal.) There are flaws with each of those scenarios, and Denver -- led by newly installed GM Masai Ujiri -- has been trying to expand the playing field to solicit more palatable offers.
The scenario both sides are most comfortable with to this point remains New Jersey, which can offer No. 3 overall pick Derrick Favors, the expiring contracts of Troy Murphy and Kris Humphries, and multiple draft picks (with Golden State's 2012 first-rounder potentially the most valuable). The Nuggets, for good reason, want Brook Lopez, whom the Nets don't want to trade -- and whom Anthony wants on his team. So the Nets, according to sources, have been canvassing the league for a trading partner, with the most likely result continuing to be sending guard Devin Harris to a third team that possesses a skilled wing player the Nuggets would view as a decent replacement for Anthony.
Trading Anthony is obviously something the Nuggets don't want to do. If they feel they have to, though, he could wind up as the main attraction with the already-revamped Nets.