Rookie guard Andy Rautins and Kelenna Azubuike’s expiring contract have been discussed as parts of the Carmelo Anthony three-team package, The Post has learned.
The Knicks have to add more pieces to the reported three-team trade proposal for Anthony to make it work from a talent and financial perspective for the Nuggets, according to NBA sources.
The Knicks, Nuggets and Timberwolves have had advanced discussions on a three-team trade, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The Knicks would also give up Wilson Chandler, Anthony Randolph (to Minnesota) and Eddy Curry’s expiring contract.
Rautins, selected with the 38th overall pick out of Syracuse, has played in just four games this season, but his 3-point shooting prowess is a marketable NBA skill. And he is expendable.
If the Nuggets agree to the package, it would be for the salary-cap space they can open up. Chandler, Curry, Azubuike and Minnesota’s Corey Brewer all have expiring contracts. Chandler would be the only one they might want to re-sign. Denver would also get a first-round draft pick in the deal from Minnesota.
It’s a sweetheart deal for the Knicks, but is it enough to entice the Nuggets? It is not better than the Nets’ package, but the Nuggets at least have leverage if New Jersey reconsiders its interest in a deal. However, the Nets may have burned their bridge with Anthony.
Chandler, who has been in a dour mood, had a smile on his face yesterday for the first time in a while after a locker-room prank in which his sweater was hidden from him after the game. Chandler had to leave the locker room in his white T-shirt.
Perhaps the players shipped Chandler’s sweater to Denver.
Knicks president Donnie Walsh, who almost never admits he is engaged in serious talks, yesterday acknowledged discussions about Anthony were at least taking shape.
“I don’t think we have anything going, but we’re getting a feeling for possibilities,” Walsh said before the Knicks beat the Sixers, 117-103. “We have a better feeling for what’s going to happen.”
In Donniespeak, that means things have progressed, with the trade deadline still a very long 19 days away.
“If you get something that will help your team, then you get excited,” Walsh said. “It hasn’t come to the point I’m excited.”
“I don’t feel good or bad,” Walsh added. “These things take two to tango. But we’re out there looking and seeing if we can do something. Some of it is not real big — trying to fill in the blanks within our own team.”