Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum Urge Carmelo Anthony to Join the Portland Trail Blazers

The Melodrama continues: Trail Blazers guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum have reportedly been in touch with the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, urging Anthony to waive his no-trade clause to come to Portland.

Speaking at Lillard’s basketball camp, both players discussed the Anthony situation with gathered media.

Lillard made it clear that he believed Anthony could bolster the already potent Portland scoring attack.

“I can only imagine what it would be like having [Anthony] iso’ing on one side, and CJ in the corner and me on the opposite wing and [Jusuf Nurkic] on the opposite dunking,” Lillard said to CSN NW earlier today. “I can only imagine how hard it would be to guard us, because it’s already hard to guard us.”

Anthony had previously been linked to the Blazers in a three-way trade that would have resulted in Ryan Anderson coming to Portland and Anthony going to the Houston Rockets.

That trade fell apart when the Knicks hired president Steve Mills and General Manager Scott Perry to replace the outgoing Phil Jackson. Mills and Perry put a halt to any trade talks, instead preferring to parlay with Anthony to try to convince him to rescind his trade request. At the same time, the Blazers reportedly withdrew from any trade facilitation role and began to pursue Anthony outright. Both of these reports came from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Anthony, however, remains steadfast in his desire to leave the Knicks. Whether or not he’s willing to waive his no-trade clause for any teams other than the Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers, his two preferred destinations, remains to be seen.

The Oregonian posted the full interview with Lillard and McCollum to YouTube: