Carmelo Anthony's Beef With Former Teammate Stopped Knicks Departure

Carmelo Anthony has one of the most decorated basketball careers of the 21st century to show for his contributions to the NBA. The Hall-of-Famer and former New York Knicks centerpiece racked up plenty of accolades, not limited to 10 All-Star teams, a scoring title and over 28,000 points, good for the 12th-most in league history.

He took on the role of the score-first star in his pursuits, and that self-oriented role didn't mix with everyone. The on- and off-court disagreements he took on with several of his former bosses, including Phil Jackson and George Karl, have been well-documented as of recent, but another one of his ugly previous relationships has similarly risen to the surface, and this one pit him against a fellow player for once.

Longtime defender Patrick Beverley never played with Anthony across his own entertaining dozen-year career, but he recently spoke on how close he and the Houston Rockets of the mid-2010s came to wooing Anthony from his Knicks before a small detail slowed conversations to a halt.

"When Melo was trying to negotiate his free agency, he went to a whole bunch of teams and one of the teams he went to was the Houston Rockets," Beverley said on his "Hoopin' N Hollerin'" podcast. "We was thinking about getting him. It was James Harden, Dwight [Howard], you had a chance to get Melo."

Pat Bev reveals that prime Melo almost joined the Rockets to form a Big 3 with Harden and Dwight, but it didn’t happen because Jeremy Lin was still on the team 😅

(🎥 @hoopinghollerin )

pic.twitter.com/amXoVhzi2X
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) November 9, 2025

"So Melo get there, like, 'Yeah, I'll come here, I ain't playing with No. 7, though.' That's Jeremy Lin. Year before, they had all the Linsanity s***. It was a time that people were talking about, 'Maybe we trade Melo and just give the keys to Jeremy Lin.' It was a time when a lot of people in New York were saying that. Couldn't get Melo."

Anthony and Lin's Differences

"Linsanity," of course, spawned during Lin's sudden ascendence from a Knicks benchwarmer into one of the league's hottest scorers for several weeks of the 2011-2012 season. He did his flourishing with Anthony briefly sidelined with injury during February, but still maintained solid production upon the return of the proven star.

Former New York Knicks Guard Jeremy Lin and Forward Carmelo Anthony — Mar 6, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin (17) talks with forward Carmelo Anthony (7) in the first quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

The Knicks very clearly remained Anthony's team, but Anthony was rumored to have played a pivotal role in Lin's offseason departure to the Rockets, reportedly unwilling to share the spotlight and adapt to a different style. He spent his next two seasons in Houston as a rotational point guard on some contending Harden-led squads, but never recaptured that New York magic.

Anthony routinely takes the defensive in catalogues of his beefs, but this is the rare instance in which it wasn't words from a coach or executive that threatened him. While he's found himself at the receiving end of sharp words from a foe plenty of times before, and did eventually make his way to the Rockets later in his career, part of his deciding to spend the majority of the decade with the poorly-run Knicks apparently stems from his own insecurities.

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