Star players have earned their power and their autonomy. Still, their choices can have severe consequences for teams and fans.
In the early days of the Superteam Era – after the rise of Boston’s Big 3, after the birth of LeBron’s Heatles—Carmelo Anthony made his own power play, forcing a trade from Denver to New York, where he would join Amar’e Stoudemire, recruit a third star and transform the Knicks into title contenders.
It all sounded so promising. It did not exactly go as planned.
The Knicks, having surrendered all their best assets in the Anthony trade, had nothing left to acquire a third star.