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It’s that time of the year when the NBA draft starts and the teams are looking to buy the best players out there. However, players with a final year option on their contracts can decide whether they would want to stick with their team or become a free agent.
Although the Big 3 of the Miami Heat have not made up their minds, Carmelo Anthony and Tim Duncan have made their decisions.
Carmelo Anthony
It is tough to digest that a 7 times All-Star of the caliber of Anthony has never received the chance to test the free agency in his 10 year NBA career. Nevertheless, having got the first opportunity to do so, Anthony has made the most of it by making it very clear that he will opt out for the final year of his contract with the New York Knicks according to many reports. He leaves behind $23.3 million on the table to test the free agent waters.
The Knicks made positive changes after their dismal season by hiring Hall of Famer Coach Phil Jackson as their President of basketball operations. Jackson hired Derek Fisher as the Knicks’ head coach to improve the team’s performance this year.But Antony was not convinced as he is opting out of the Knicks.
Chicago, Dallas, Miami and the Los Angeles have so far been named in the conversation as front runners to lure Anthony this summer.
Joakim Noah has been making a pitch to Anthony to come to Chicago even before the previous season came to a close. Head Coach Tom Thibodeau is also eager to make cap space and room for Anthony in the roster.
Ultimately, the team Anthony joins will have a lot to do with what LeBron James does with his player option, the deadline for which is June 29th. Whether or not Anthony will join the Big 3 in Miami to make it a Big 4 will depend a lot on whether James opts out of his contract because it requires either one of the Big 4 including Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade to take a huge pay cut in order to financially enable the franchise to grab Anthony.
Tim Duncan
While Anthony opts out to be a free agent for the first time, veteran Tim Duncan informed his team the San Antonio Spurs that he would return for the final year of his contract.
Duncan’s inevitable return gives the Spurs the only chance for another championship with their Big 3. They will also be defending their title for the first time in franchise history as Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker also enter the final year of their contracts.
After his fifth NBA title with the Spurs this season, there was never a doubt on what Duncan was going to do with the player option on his contract for the final year. Now the Spurs could entirely focus on keeping the remaining free agents Boris Diaw and Patty Mills in order to maintain the same core group for their title defense. However, both Diaw and Mills who performed well this season are expected to remain with the Spurs.
Will Duncan along with the help of his Spurs equal Michael Jordan’s tally of six titles?
One thing is for sure no matter how old or tired they might be, you can never count the Spurs out.
Guess the Lakers players!
