HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

Has Carmelo Signed Off?: The Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets were still working on a massive 15-player trade that would land Denver All-Star Carmelo Anthony in New Jersey.

However ESPN’s Chris Broussard is reporting that sources close to Anthony are saying that Carmelo has told no one that he’d sign a contract extension and that may be holding up a deal.

"He has not agreed to go to New Jersey," said the source, who speaks regularly with Anthony. "I have never heard him, in all the times we’ve talked, say he’s willing to go to New Jersey. Not once. Personally, I would be stunned if he went there and signed an extension."

According to Broussard, the Nuggets have granted New Jersey permission to meet with Anthony, but a face-to-face meeting has not taken place.

Sources near the Nets’ side of things told HOOPSWORLD’s Alex Raskin, that they had enough assurances on an extension to move forward with the proposed trade, saying they "heard it from the horse’s mouth" that Melo would sign a three-year $65 million deal after arriving in Jersey.

Broussard’s source disagrees with that assessment saying Carmelo’s agent Leon Rose is pushing Jersey:

"He [Rose] may want him to go there," one source said. "But Melo doesn’t want to be in Jersey. He wants to play in New York."

Sources near Carmelo said recently that there is a growing rift between Carmelo and his personal advisors, and Leon Rose his agent.

Carmelo’s personal advisors are upset with how much information is finding its way to the press, and how slowly this process is moving.

Those with knowledge of the agreement between Carmelo and Leon Rose, say Rose promised Melo he could get him to New York with a three year $65 million extension.

Carmelo’s advisors are concerned about the damage this prolonged public process will have on Carmelo’s endorsement power, and are worried that Carmelo will be villianized like LeBron James was for leaving Cleveland, which is why Carmelo continues to play things very quietly on his side.

Reports that Carmelo wouldn’t sign an extension with anyone but the Knicks do line up with what Carmelo’s advisors have said from the beginning.

New Jersey believes they have a commitment on an extension, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Stan Not Feeling The Bigs: There is little doubt that the Orlando Magic need another body or two if they are going to seriously challenge for a NBA championship this year. The problem is while Team President Otis Smith is looking at options, Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy says the names he’s hearing aren’t better than the guys on the roster now, and he’d rather hold out for the right guy.

{AUTHOR_BOX} "The names that I have heard that might be available, that Otis has run by me, Malik [Allen] is better than those guys," Van Gundy said to Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel. "Even though he’s a little bit smaller, he’s better. So, I don’t think adding a guy just to add a guy is it. If there’s a guy out there we think could make a difference in us getting by the teams we’re trying to get by to try and win the east, then we’d be open to making a move. But I don’t think we need to make a move just to have another body on the roster."

"In an ideal world, would you like to have another true center? Probably," Van Gundy said. "But if we have to go smaller, that creates some problems for us, but it may very well create some problems for them, too."

The Magic have been linked to Charlotte’s Nazr Mohammed, Miami’s Jamaal Magloire, Philadelphia’s Tony Battie and New York’s Ronny Turiaf.

Magic team president Otis Smith has said several times that he feels his roster matchups up well with the bulk of the NBA, stating that he’s concerned about maybe five teams.

The Magic say there is no urgency to add a player; however the NBA trade deadline is just 43 days away so the clock is ticking.

The Magic visit New Orleans tonight and are looking for their 10th straight win.

Iverson Done?: Turkish language site Ajansspor is reporting that Allen Iverson will hold a press conference sometime today to announce his retirement from basketball.

According to Ajansspor, Iverson injured his ankle and will be leaving Beşiktaş Cola Turka to undergo surgery in the United States. Beşiktaş is current 6-7 in Premiere League play with Iverson having played in just 3 games.

In his three games with Beşiktaş, Iverson is shooting 31.8% from the field and 31% from three point range.

Iverson signed a two-year, $4 million contract in October.

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NBA Chats: There will be two NBA Chats today starting with my weekly NBA Rumors Chat at 11am EST. I’ll do my best to get to as many of your questions as possible. Senior NBA Writer Tommy Beer will hostthe late day chat at 8pm EST. Tommy is HOOPSWORLD’s Fantasy Sports editor and also covers the Knicks and Nets for HOOPSWORLD. You can always the next chat here: Upcoming NBA Chats.