Carmelo Anthony and New York Knicks owner James Dolan met on Thursday night in Los Angeles, the New York Daily News reported on Friday afternoon.
The newspaper also reported that the executives of the Knicks and Denver Nuggets were set to hold a conference call on Friday afternoon to discuss a deal involving Anthony, who has been the subject of trade rumors to the Knicks and New Jersey Nets for the past several months.
The meeting in Los Angeles is the first known face-to-face contact between Anthony and the Knicks. It's an open secret around the league that the Knicks are Anthony's preferred destination.
Earlier Friday, the Bergen (N.J.) Record reported the Nuggets and Nets had agreed on players in a trade for Anthony, but needed to get Anthony to agree to sign a three-year, $65 million extension to seal the deal.
The Record, citing sources, reported that the Nets would get Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Melvin Ely and Renaldo Balkman from the Nuggets.
In turn, the Nets would send Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, Troy Murphy, Ben Uzoh and four first-round picks to Denver.
But sources told ESPN.com on Thursday night not all of those picks would wind up in Denver's hands. At least one of the first-rounders is earmarked to be packaged with Murphy to a third team -- either in this trade or in a separate deal -- because the Nuggets have maintained for months that they're unwilling to absorb Murphy's $12 million expiring contract for luxury-tax reasons.
Thursday night, ESPN.com reported that sources close to the situation said the Nuggets were operating under the assumption that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Anthony would meet face-to-face at All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
A Nets spokeswoman told The Associated Press that Prokhorov had not changed his mind about trading for Anthony. Last month, he announced that his team was done chasing a deal for the Nuggets' All-Star.
Anthony, speaking Friday at a NBA Cares Day of Service event in Los Angeles, said "no meeting at all" is scheduled with the Nets. Calling it "news to me," Anthony said: "If I was to meet with that guy [Prokhorov] to be honest I really don't know what I would say."
Anthony added: "I know this is the All-Star week but it's also a big week for me as far as having some knowledge about my situation."
He said he would like to have "something up in stone before I leave here this weekend" and he might "not get any more sleep for the next four or five days."
Asked whether he wants to meet directly with his suitors before making a deal, Anthony said: "I think, with anything in business, you want to sit and look in a person's eyes. Whether it's Prokhorov or it's Dolan, whether it's [Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry] Buss, the third team that just came out last week. Whoever it is, you want to sit and have eye contact with them and get a feel for 'em."
This is the third time since September the Nuggets and Nets have reached an advanced stage in negotiations for an Anthony trade.
A source told ESPN's Ric Bucher on Friday that Anthony would sign the extension with New Jersey if the Knicks can't make a deal.
Sources told ESPN.com Thursday night that Prokhorov, despite the team statement, has been negotiating directly with Nuggets ownership this week while awaiting confirmation of a meeting in which the Nets finally might be able to lobby Anthony to abandon his long-standing determination to be a Knick.
The trading deadline is 3 p.m. ET Thursday.
Information from ESPN.com's Marc Stein, ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard, ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne and The Associated Press is included in this report.
Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nba/news/story?id=6136920&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
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