Carmelo Anthony Rumors: Lakers, Rockets, Heat Suitors After Thunder Buyout

Could Carmelo Anthony be a member of the Houston Rockets come the 2018-19 season?

According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Rockets are "among the teams that will have interest in Anthony once he secures his free agency."

Adrian Wojnarowski and Royce Young of ESPN.com added that the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers are also among the teams expected to show interest in Anthony, however.

Per that report, the Oklahoma City Thunder will cut ties with Anthony this summer either through a trade, waiving him with the stretch provision or agreeing to a buyout combined with the stretch provision.

They wrote: "The massive financial implications of Anthony opting into his $27.9 million contract for the 2018-19 season—coupled with a mutual understanding that his scaled-back role with the Thunder isn't what he had signed up for—have dictated that the two sides will part ways sometime this summer."

If the Thunder use the stretch provision on Anthony, they could waive him and stretch payments on the $27.9 million over the course of three years, shrinking his cap hit this season to $9.3 million. Per Wojnarowski and Young, that would "eliminate a staggering $107 million off the team's 2018-19 payroll and tax bill."

As for the Rockets, they were in the running for Anthony last offseason before the New York Knicks traded him to the Thunder.

Anthony acknowledged last September in an interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio (h/t Scott Gleeson of USA Today) that "a deal was done with Houston. Then for some reason—whatever happened behind the scenes—it didn't go through. It fell through, then we had to really start paying attention and thinking about other options."

Houston, however, may be a clunky fit for Anthony, who played more of a stretch-4 role for the Thunder last season but never looked comfortable in that style of play. Anthony has long been at his best as an isolation scorer, though it's hard to imagine the Rockets will want to take the ball out of James Harden's or Chris Paul's hands for long, even as the team embraced an iso philosophy this past season.

Both the Heat and Lakers represent a more natural fit. The Heat have built a solid roster of complementary players, but without a true star or elite scorer to complement. Anthony would be the team's best offensive option, alongside guard Goran Dragic and impressive young center Bam Adebayo.

The Lakers, meanwhile, don't have a second star to pair with LeBron James. Adding Anthony would be another interesting move in an offseason full of them for the Lakers, who have made a few head-scratching additions already, including the agreed-upon signings of Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson to one-year deals.

Anthony, at least, would take some of the scoring burden off James, though perhaps at the expense of playing time for young pieces like Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma. But for a Lakers team expected to return to the postseason with James in hand, adding another experienced scorer would make sense.