Melo: Untrue about rejecting Nets extension

NEWARK - Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov may have publicly put an end to the negotiations between his team and Carmelo Anthony, but it was no coincidence that hints of a potentially fruitful career in the Nets' new home were displayed prominently for the Denver star to see on his way to the visitors' locker room.

"That was interesting," Anthony said, referring to the four placards with photographs of the Nets' new arena being built in Brooklyn.

With one broad, sweeping rejection, Prokhorov had distanced his team from the soon-to-be free agent. But Anthony said Monday he would have sat down with the Nets.

It is widely believed that Anthony would not have signed a long-term extension with the Nets - a sticking point for the organization. That, however, isn't true, he said.

"I really don't know where that came from, as far as if I was to come here, the extension wasn't going to be signed," Anthony said after scoring 37 points in the Nuggets' 115-99 loss to the Nets. "I really don't know who started that. There's a lot of things that are being said out there that I don't know where they came from. Sources, I guess. As far as the extension, if that trade were to go through, who knows what would've happened. I can't really answer that."

But there is one positive to come out of the miscommunication, he said. "I think Prokhorov took a load off a lot of guys on the Nets and the Nuggets," he said after his first game against the Nets since their talks with the Nuggets ended. "Now everybody can just go out there and play and see what the next step from here is.

"It didn't really matter as far as taking a load off of me. I'm still going out there doing what I had to do, which is win basketball games and be there for my team. But Prokhorov, he took a real strong stance by holding that press conference straight off the plane and deading that deal. So obviously he felt strongly that this wasn't going to happen."

Anthony, who has refused to sign a three-year contract extension worth about $65 million, isn't ruling anything out. But he wouldn't say which team - the Nets, Knicks or Nuggets - he expects to sign with, or if a trade will take place before the Feb. 24 deadline.

He did say the uncertainty of the new collective-bargaining agreement is in the back of his mind.

"But as far as being afraid to play this out, I'm not," he said. "If that's what it's going to take, so be it."

Winning a title is much more important than securing a major payday, he added. But "if I sit here and tell you that I'm willing to lose 15 or 20 million, then I'd be lying to you."

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