Carmelo Anthony will be going into his 16th season in the league.
The Houston Rockets will sign veteran forward Carmelo Anthony, Marc Stein of the New York Times reports.
Anthony spent last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder after being traded from the New York Knicks.
On July 19, the Thunder traded Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal, and then Atlanta eventually waived him so he could hit the open market.
According to the report, Anthony’s free agency won’t happen before next week while the trade to the Hawks becomes official.
The 34-year-old Anthony opted in to a $27.9 million option earlier in the offseason.
Oklahoma City explored trade possibilities with Anthony where he would be sent as an expiring contract and have his deal waived so he could hit free agency, according to ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski. This route relied on Anthony waiving his no-trade clause, which Wojnarowski reported Anthony agreed to do to facilitate his exit.
Wojnarowski also reported that before the trade, Oklahoma City allowed Anthony the chance to meet with perspective teams during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, and he met with the Rockets and Heat.
The 10–time All–Star averaged a career-low 16.2 points a game and shot 40.4% percent from the floor, also the lowest in his career.
Anthony can provide a steady third scoring option for the explosive Houston offense, led by NBA MVP James Harden and perennial All–Star point guard Chris Paul.
In 15 seasons, Anthony has averaged 24.1 points a game, but has only reached the conference finals once in his career.