The Portland Trail Blazers are signing former Houston Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony to a non-guaranteed contract, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday.
The Blazers play in Houston on Monday. Depending when Anthony is activated, he could potentially play against his former Rockets team in that game. Wojnarowski reports that Anthony will join the Blazers on their upcoming road trip, which begins Saturday in San Antonio.
Anthony has not participated in an NBA game since Nov. 8, 2018, when the Rockets lost in Oklahoma City to fall to a disappointing 4-6. The Rockets chose to move on from Anthony after that game, largely due to his defensive difficulties in their switching scheme.
After a Western Conference Finals appearance, the underwhelming 4-6 start had Daryl Morey and the 2018-19 Rockets looking for changes. Remarkably, it’s a very similar predicament that may be prompting the Blazers to sign Anthony, since Portland is currently 4-8 following a Western Conference Finals berth last season.
In all, Anthony played just 10 games for the Rockets after signing with the team in August 2018, averaging 13.4 points on 40.5% shooting (32.8% on 3s) in 29.4 minutes per game.
Now 35 years old, this will be the 17th NBA season for Anthony, a 10-time All-Star and the league’s 2013 scoring champion. For his career, the future Hall of Famer has averaged 24.0 points (44.9% shooting) and 6.5 rebounds in 35.8 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-8 forward has also won three Olympic gold medals with the USA Basketball Men’s National Team, for which he’s the all-time leading scorer in Olympics games.
