For the past week or so, there have been reports that the Knicks and Rockets have been engaged in trades talks with the goal of moving forward Carmelo Anthony to Houston. At least one other team would be required to execute such a move, and some have speculated that the Trail Blazers might be a willing participant. The player most of these reports have coming back to Portland is Rockets forward Ryan Anderson, who has three years at roughly $20 million a year left on his current contract.

But today, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Trail Blazers aren't interested in facilitating a trade between the Rockets and Knicks unless PORTLAND is the team that ends up with Anthony. The 6-8 veteran forward out of Syracuse has a no-trade clause, meaning he would have to agree to a trade to Portland -- he reportedly is only willing to waive his no-trade clause in a deal sending him to Cleveland or Houston -- though according to Wojnarowski, the Trail Blazers are hoping he'd at least consider the prospect of playing in Rip City...

Houston and New York have pursued constructs of deals, but those are harder to maintain in place with the Knicks retreating indefinitely on talks. One of the teams that New York and Houston had hoped would facilitate a multi-team trade for Anthony -- the Portland Trail Blazers -- only plans to participate in a deal for Anthony if he decides to expand his no-trade clause to include the Trail Blazers, league sources told ESPN. Outside of Golden State, Portland believes the addition of a player such as Anthony would furnish it with talent and depth comparable to those of the top Western Conference contenders, league sources said. Because of that, the Blazers have little, if any, inclination to facilitate an Anthony deal that would land him with a Western Conference rival such as Houston, league sources said.

The notion that Portland would facilitate a trade which would greatly improve a Western Conference rival in exchange for Anderson always seemed a bit specious. NBA trade partners do often times make for strange bedfellows, so it not as if the idea could be summarily disregarded, but if Wojnarowski's report is correct, the Trail Blazers might not have had much interest outside of acquiring Anthony to begin with.