Carmelo Anthony has officially reached a buyout with the Atlanta Hawks, giving back $2.4 million of his $27.9M salary, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. That $2.4 million is the veteran's minimum that Melo will get back when he signs with a new team, likely to be the Houston Rockets.
Woj notes that Anthony still has to wait another 48 hours to clear waivers before officially telling the Rockets of his intentions to sign. The 33-year old forward was traded to the Hawks earlier this month as part of a three-team deal that included point guard Dennis Schroder going to Oklahoma City.
In regards to his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Anthony recently revealed that he felt like everything was rushed and that, "it wasn't a good fit." The Thunder finished the season fourth in the Western Conference with a 48-34 record, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Utah Jazz.
Anthony told ESPN's Jemele Hill:
"At the end of the day, it wasn't a good fit. I think last year—and I haven't talked about this before—everything was just so rushed, going to the team for media day and the day before training camp. Them guys already had something in place, and then I come along in the 25th hour like, 'Oh shit, Melo just come on and join us. Like, you can figure it out since you've been around the game for a long time.'
"That's why it was so inconsistent. At times, I had to figure it out on my own rather than somebody over there or people over there helping me."
Additionally, Melo told Hill that he originally did not want to take a buyout and had no interest in being waived but ultimately came to terms with the move, describing it as "the new norm in our society in basketball."
"To get bought out, to get waived, you were looked at like, you're done. Now, it's just almost like the norm. If something doesn't work, go ahead and get a buyout or go ahead and get traded. That's the new norm in our society in basketball. I had to get over that."
"I had a conversation with my wife and family. I said to them, I'm not taking no buyout. I'm not getting waived. And they said, at the end of the day, nobody is going to know that. You have to do what you have to do. It's going to be a blip on your radar. It's on to the next chapter. It took me a while to get to that point where I'm like, OK, I'm going to accept it."
Last season, his first with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Anthony averaged a career-low 16.2 points per game as well as 5.8 rebounds.