After denying that any meeting was planned or desired, New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov met with Carmelo Anthony on Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. The billionaire was finally able to sell the future of the franchise to the player he hopes will be the face of that future.
The meeting reportedly lasted roughly 40 minutes and also included minority owner Jay-Z, GM Billy King and CEO Brett Yormark. Coming along with Anthony were agent Leon Rose and business manager Bay Frazier.
Anthony was noncommittal at the meeting and according to sources, the Nets "didn’t come away very confident."
It's possible that at this point New Jersey believes Anthony is only keeping the idea of going to the Nets alive to push the New York Knicks towards increasing their trade offer to the Denver Nuggets. Even with the Knicks sweetening their latest offer for the All Star, Denver still prefers the Nets offer of rookie Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Ben Uzoh, Troy Murphy and four first-round draft picks.
Anthony wants a deal wrapped up by the end of the weekend, while the urgency will not start to pick up until the middle of next week as Thursday's trade deadline approaches.