Is Carmelo going or is he staying? The Nuggets’ new general manager, Masai Ujiri, hopes it’s the latter.

“Of course, that’s going to be the priority,” Ujiri said. “Melo is a great player, I think arguably a top-5 player in the NBA. … It’s a challenge, but I’ll meet with Melo at some point. He’s in China and he’ll come back in the next couple of days. So, we’ll set something up.”

It is important to remember that Ujiri is coming from Toronto, a team which lost their star for next to nothing, having remained stubborn throughout the season. Ujiri has to strike a balance between putting himself on the fanbase’s bad side and not repeating the same mistake.

I take exception at the insinuations that the Knicks’ offer lags far behind the others. While Denver will pull the trigger on the best offer, regardless of Melo’s preferences, teams will simply not give up a boatload of assets unless it is guaranteed that Carmelo will resign. Would he resign with the Clippers, who would have to give up Chris Kaman? Would he resign with the Nets, who would lose the budding star in Brook Lopez and/or Devin Harris? Would he resign with Houston, with the precarious health of Yao and his expiring deal? The players the Knicks would give up – namely Gallinari and Chandler – would become superfluous with Carmelo, and the team would be able to keep its best player around.

The fact is New York remains one of Carmelo’s preferred destinations, and in the last year of his deal, there’s still a fine chance he will maneuver his way into Madison Square Garden.

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