A prominent former Knicks All-Star and one of LeBron James’ closest friends, Carmelo Anthony, fully endorses the recent thawing of the cold war between the Knicks and LeBron’s agency, Klutch Sports.
Knicks president Leon Rose, Anthony’s former agent, met with Klutch head Rich Paul earlier this month in New York to hash out their frosty relationship, as The Post first reported.
“Relationships are important … and that was the best relationship at one point in time,” Anthony said this week on the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast. “And then it gets completely f—ed up, dismantled. So this is years and years and years and years of people having to pick sides, and ‘I can’t talk to this person’ … because everybody’s in the same circle.
“So now to patch that energy up and come to peace, like, we’re men now and gonna figure this out. … You have to, because no matter what, you need New York. You can’t go around New York. You can try to, but you gotta come back here. Especially when you’re in certain industries. When you’re in music, when you’re in f—ing sports, you gotta come through New York. So when you don’t have no relationship with the Knicks, you ain’t got no relationship around. Your relationship game ain’t strong around the NBA.
“So I’m happy, that’s honorable that those parties came together and settled their differences, because it’s gonna benefit everybody in the industry.”
As The Post previously reported, Paul’s agency previously preferred its clients — such as Dejounte Murray and Zach LaVine — not to join the Knicks, but the hope of the meeting was to move forward with an improved business relationship.
James can become a free agent this summer if he declines a $51.4 million player option, though he indicated at All-Star weekend that he wants to remain with the Lakers.
Miles McBride was listed as questionable for Saturday night’s home game against the Celtics with a non-COVID illness, but he was available, coach Tom Thibodeau said.
He scored nine points in 16 minutes.
Thibodeau praised longtime coaching colleague Jeff Van Gundy, who is serving as a basketball operations consultant with the Celtics following his departure from ESPN.
“I think Jeff’s always had great passion for the game. I think he’s a great asset to their organization just because of all the experiences he’s had,” Thibodeau said. “And even though he wasn’t in coaching, he really was in coaching when he was doing the broadcasting. He’s not only been involved in a lot of pro-game programs, but a lot of college programs as well. I think it’s great. I think whatever he chooses to do, he’ll be great at it. He’s in the game and he loves the game, I know that.”