Carmelo Anthony has seemingly accepted his fate.
After a whirlwind of an offseason that could end with him joining his fourth team in one year, the star forward has learned to embrace the "new norm" of NBA free agency.
"To get bought out, to get waived, you were looked at like, you're done," Anthony said, via ESPN. "Now, it's just almost like the norm. If something doesn't work, go ahead and get a buyout or go ahead and get traded. That's the new norm in our society in basketball. I had to get over that.
"I had a conversation with my wife and family. I said to them, I'm not taking no buyout. I'm not getting waived. And they said, at the end of the day, nobody is going to know that. You have to do what you have to do. It's going to be a blip on your radar. It's on to the next chapter. It took me a while to get to that point where I'm like, OK, I'm going to accept it."
Anthony was traded from the Knicks to the Thunder in September but said the timing of the deal just wasn't right, which is why he posted career-low averages of 16.2 points and 32.1 minutes per game during his time in Oklahoma City.
"At the end of the day, it wasn't a good fit," Anthony said. "I think last year — and I haven't talked about this before — everything was just so rushed, going to the team for media day and the day before training camp. Them guys already had something in place, and then I come along in the 25th hour like, oh s—, Melo just come on and join us. Like, you can figure it out since you've been around the game for a long time.
"That's why it was so inconsistent. At times, I had to figure it out on my own rather than somebody over there or people over there helping me."
The Thunder traded Anthony and a protected 2022 first-round pick to the Hawks for point guard Dennis Schroder and Mike Muscala last week. Once the trade is completed, Atlanta is expected to waive the 34-year-old veteran, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Anthony is then expected to sign a one-year veteran minimum deal worth $2.4 million with the Rockets.
