NBA Trades: New York Knicks Acquire Carmelo Anthony From Denver Nuggets

The longest trade negotiation in professional sports history finally came to an end tonight with Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets being dealt to the team everyone thought he would end up with all along, the New York Knicks.  The pieces and parts of the deal seem to be exactly what has been reported for several weeks:

Denver Gets:

Wilson Chandler

Raymond Felton

Danilo Gallinari

Timofrey Mozgov

New York Knicks 2014 first round pick

Golden State Warriors 2012 second-round pick

Golden State Warriors 2013 second-round pick

$3 million cash

New York Gets:

Carmelo Anthony

Chauncey Billups

Sheldon Williams

Anthony Carter

Renaldo Balkman

The trade will likely morph into other deals with the Nuggets possible sending some of the pieces they acquired to the New Jersey Nets in a smaller deal to acquire some draft picks.  Rumors have been swirling that the Nuggets could send Gallinari and others to the Nets for a pair of first-round picks, the same picks that would have been part of a 'Melo deal had the Nets been able to get Anthony to sign an extension with the team.

Unfortunately this is another sad reminder that it is the players, not the owners, fans, or anyone else that run the NBA.  Based on what LeBron James and Chris Bosh were able to accomplish last summer, players now know they can end up with any team they want, no matter how the rules are written to keep stars at home.