Knicks Took Advantage Of An NBA Rule To Make Carmelo Anthony's New Contract Even More Valuable

When Carmelo Anthony re-signed with the New York Knicks, it may have been an easy decision because NBA rules made it impossible for other teams to match or exceed the offer even if they wanted to. It turns out the Knicks took advantage of another NBA rule to make the deal even sweeter than what was originally thought.

In addition to signing a 5-year, $124.1 million deal with the Knicks, Anthony will also receive half of his salary up front each year according to Chris Herring of the Wall Street Journal.

This is the maximum allowable under NBA rules and will ultimately increase the value of the contract by taking advantage of earlier interest. Anthony is set to make $22.5 million in his first year and will receive approximately $11.25 million up front.

Anthony's new contract was already worth $28 million more than what other teams were able to offer. The Los Angeles Lakers were able to offer a 4-year contract worth $96 million. However, the Lakers were never considered a serious threat with Anthony ultimately deciding between the Knicks and the Bulls.

The Bulls were only able to offer $73 million over four years. However, that may have gone up to as much as $87 million depending on which contracts they would have been able to trade away.

After re-signing with the Knicks, Anthony said he didn't care about the money. But in the end, it was probably just too much money to turn down.