At the 2011 trade deadline, the New York Knicks were able to land the franchise player they had coveted for years in Carmelo Anthony in a major deal.
The deal included Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman, Shelden Williams and Raymond Felton getting sent to New York from the Denver Nuggets, who got back Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a 2012 second-rounder, a 2013 second-rounder and a 2014 first-round pick, among other filler.
In the deal, the Knicks were able to land an All-NBA-level performer in Anthony, who performed magnificently the rest of that season, averaging 26.3 points and 6.0 rebounds for the rest of that campaign, one who helped guide them to the playoffs that year and for the three seasons after that.
With that said, Anthony was becoming a free agent the following offseason and made clear his intentions to join the Knicks, and yet New York still gave away a ton for him. What’s more, Anthony was never able to take the Knicks to huge heights, winning just one playoff series with the team, making how expensive the trade was for New York look not great in hindsight.
Still, Anthony is an all-timer so anytime a player of that caliber gets dealt at the deadline, it’s still a huge deal.
