NBA

Carmelo ready to pass on extension offer

Carmelo Anthony has his first chance to formally reject the Knicks in two weeks.

Feb. 22 marks the third anniversary of the trade between the Knicks and Nuggets, who visit the Garden Friday, that brought Anthony to New York. At the time of the deal, Anthony signed a contract extension with the Knicks. According to NBA rules, the Knicks can officially extend his contract again on the third-year anniversary of the deal.

However, Anthony, who was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for January, said in the preseason he wanted to test the free-agent market July 1 and opt out of the final season of his contract. He is expected to pass on his first chance to recommit to the Knicks and any offer from the team could be a mere formality.

The Knicks can make an offer of adding two more years onto next season’s final year. If Anthony wanted to make a shorter-term commitment, the remaining length of his contract after this season would be for three years, $75.5 million.

Agreeing to an extension would limit the risk of a potential serious injury in the final two months of the regular season and playoffs. That would be the strongest reason to reconsider for Anthony, who had a left shoulder tear in last season’s playoffs. An extension would tie him up through the 2016-2017 season, when he would be 32 years old and able to sign another lucrative deal.

However, Anthony’s stated plan is to opt out of the contract, which would have paid him $23.4 million in 2014-15, and start from scratch. He could then re-sign with the Knicks for a max of five years and $129 million. If he finds a team well under the cap such as the Lakers, he would be eligible to sign for four years, $95 million. That’s one year and $20 million more than if he did an extension now with the Knicks.

Despite the Knicks’ losing ways this season, team brass has several plans to convince Anthony to re-sign. They should have cap space in 2015 to offer a maximum contract to a free agent such as Minnesota’s Kevin Love or Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, who visited the Garden Wednesday.

Though Anthony seconded his wife’s assertion recently he was leaning toward staying put, anything can happen once he is on the open market for the first time in his career.

Anthony talked last week about winning a title being the only thing that counts for his career, hinting he would take less money to sign with another team. Or even take less money to re-sign with the Knicks to give them more maneuverability.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, an opposing team under the cap can only offer him a four-year deal and $33 million less than the Knicks’ maximum.

If Anthony is serious about taking less money to sign with another team with a better chance of winning, it is a departure from previous actions. Had he chosen to weather the lockout fallout and sign with the Knicks as a free agent in the 2011 (they had cap space), owner James Dolan would not have been forced to throw away all those assets in the Nuggets trade three years ago.

The biggest asset lost in the trade may be yet to come. If the Knicks don’t make the playoffs, the 2014 pick included in the Anthony package would turn into a coveted lottery pick in June’s NBA Draft — shaping up as one of the best in many years.

That Anthony added the opt-out clause after this season when the sign-and-extend trade with Denver was consummated added another negative layer to the trade from the Knicks’ standpoint. Even if he eventually re-signs, the spectre of his departure has created a distraction to this season that has gone astray.

Now, as the date of the extension talks near, Anthony appears to want no part of it.