Report: Carmelo Anthony Was Against the Knicks Signing JR Smith

According to the NY Post, ‘Melo wasn’t exactly thrilled when the Knicks inked his former Nuggets teammate JR Smith: “Contrary to popular belief, Anthony was leery of the Knicks bringing in his former Denver teammate three weeks ago and gave a thumbs down to upper management, according to a person close to the Knicks superstar. Publicly, Anthony said all the right things about Smith, who was fined $25,000 by the NBA Saturday for tweeting a photo of a partially naked woman in his Milwaukee hotel room. A couple of weeks before the signing, Anthony was asked if the Knicks should sign his former teammate who has a thuggish reputation. Anthony and Smith share the same agent, Leon Rose. ‘If it happens, it happens and I’ll be happy,’ Anthony said publicly before the signing. But, according to the source, Anthony was not gung-ho and was ‘hurt’ Knicks upper management tossed his advice out the window.”