HOUSTON — Carmelo Anthony is done in Houston.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey released a statement Thursday saying the team is “parting ways” with Anthony and “working toward a resolution.”
Anthony played just 10 games for the Rockets after signing a one-year, $2.4 million deal during the offseason.
“Carmelo had a tremendous approach during his time with the Rockets and accepted every role head coach Mike D’Antoni gave him,” Morey said. “The fit we envisioned when Carmelo chose to sign with the Rockets has not materialized, therefore we thought it was best to move on as any other outcome would have been unfair to him.”
Anthony was traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks in July before the Hawks released him to clear the way for him to sign with the Rockets.
Houston star James Harden said he liked having Anthony on his team but that the decision was out of his hands.
“It’s one of my friends. He’s a great guy, great teammate,” Harden said. “It just didn’t work out. It’s part of the business.”
Houston thought he could be the piece it needed to finally get past Golden State and win its first championship since back-to-back titles in 1994-95. Instead the Rockets limped out to a 6-7 start and the emergence of undrafted rookie Gary Clark made it appear that Anthony would have to take a reduced role.
In the end the Rockets decided it would be better to move on than to force Anthony to do that.
“We just had to see how things worked out,” D’Antoni said. “And the way we play probably wasn’t conducive to his game and he was trying to make the necessary sacrifices and it wasn’t fair to him as a Hall of Fame player to play in a way that wasn’t good for him, wasn’t good for us. It just wasn’t a fit.”
The 34-year-old is a 10-time All-Star who has had a tough time over the last two seasons. He averaged a career-low 16.2 points in 78 starts in a tumultuous season for the Thunder last season before coming to Houston — and accepting a reserve role for the first time in his 16-year career.
Eight of Anthony’s 10 appearances for the Rockets came off the bench after he had started all 1,054 games he’d played in his first 15 NBA seasons.