Carmelo Anthony Trade: Are The Nets Winners or Losers?

Carmelo Anthony Trade Has Happened, But What About New Jersey?

The New Jersey Nets are the forgotten team here.

Depending on who you listen to, Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is either an evil genius or a guy that got played by Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. As we all remember, the Nets had backed away from the table and decided to no longer pursue Anthony on the trade market.

However, once the New York Knicks got into the fray, and got serious about things, New Jersey came in and put a huge offer on the table before the Knicks stepped up and got Anthony from Denver for more than the team was originally offering. Now, why would New Jersey get in unless it honestly believed it had a shot at getting Anthony?

The final verdict is that New Jersey, once again, is second best, an afterthought, a speck on the NBA radar in terms of destinations. Jay-Z means nothing as a presence in the ownership. A move to Brooklyn means nothing to these players. Brooklyn is not Madison Square Garden and it's not the New York Knicks.

New Jersey will turn its attention to the summer of 2012, when the Nets will try and land a superstar to move into their new building, but wasn't that the plan last summer, when New Jersey pursued LeBron James? The Nets failed then and it doesn't look good now. The players today want to play at the top destinations, and why go to Brooklyn when you can go directly to the Big Apple?

There will be a lot of hope, but in the end, the Nets and their fans are setting themselves up for disappointment. The truth is that Prokhorov got played and now the Nets look foolish for crawling back into the Anthony sweepstakes, only to be pawns in Denver's game.

It's embarrassing for a man that powerful to be played that badly. Welcome to the NBA Mikhail.