Carmelo Anthony's Oklahoma City Thunder one-year stint came to an end this week as he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Woj reports that the veteran will immediately be waived and become a free agent.
This will pave the way for Melo to make a move to the Houston Rockets who he's widely expected to join.
According to NBA.com's David Aldridge, Anthony has already been telling people for more than a week that he will be a Rockets player.
Shortly after his trade to the Hawks becomes official, he'll be freed of his contract and can finally team up with his close friend Chris Paul in Houston.
Joining forces at last
The Texas-based franchise tried to acquire the 34-year-old last summer but were unable to come to a trade agreement with the New York Knicks and he was captured by the Thunder instead.
Once he agreed to part ways with OKC this summer, the Rockets were always considered as the favourites to land him, especially since Paul has been pushing the front office to snap him up.
The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers are also believed to hold an interest in him but it seems they'll miss out.
Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald reports that the Heat couldn't offer Carmelo the role and contract that he wanted and they expect him to head to Houston.
The 10-time All-Star will receive the full $28.9 million of his contract when his buyout from Atlanta is finalised.
Obvious fit
With the Rockets losing Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute in free agency, Anthony should slot in as the starting small forward on the team.
He may be approaching the latter stages of his career but he can still provide solid offence.
Although he's an upgrade on both Ariza and Mbah a Moute on that end of the floor, he won't bring the same level of defence that those two did last year.
The three-time Olympic Gold Medalist also struggled as a third option alongside Russell Westbrook and Paul George in Oklahoma City so it'll be interesting to see how he fits in a similar role with Paul and James Harden.
He averaged a career-low 16.2 points on 40.4 percent shooting with the Thunder.
But with CP3 and Harden being willing passers, he should get more opportunities within the Rockets offence than he did with OKC.
The move makes sense for both parties and is likely to be finalised soon.
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