Phil Jackson blames Carmelo Anthony drama for failed Knicks tenure

MILWAUKEE — James Dolan thought the media would run Phil Jackson out of town. But it was Carmelo Anthony. 

In a book scheduled for release Nov. 4, Jackson delves into his tenuous relationship with Melo, how the Knicks contributed to the end of his engagement to Jeanie Buss, a previously unknown desire to hire Virginia coach Tony Bennett and his conversations with Dolan before a “mutual decision to part ways” in 2017. 

“Dolan said to me, ‘Are you going to get run out of town by the media?’ I said, ‘I know who the media is; that doesn’t affect me,’ ” Jackson said in the Carmelo chapter of his book, “Masters of the Game,” a conversational read on the 75 greatest players through the lens of the legendary coach and Hall of Fame scribe Sam Smith. “But Dolan felt it was too much. He said, ‘I don’t want you to go through it. I know what it’s like to deal with these people.’ I said, ‘Unfortunately my relationship with Carmelo is kind of busted, and if he’s going to be here, it’s probably best that I go.’ ”

Jackson and Anthony butted heads throughout their failed partnership, with much of the conflict rooted in playing styles. Jackson wanted the triangle offense and ball movement. Anthony never bought in — “[Jeff] Hornacek said Carmelo wanted the ball,” Jackson said.

Still, Anthony had a no-trade clause and resisted waiving it. 

“I had this meeting with Dolan, I said, ‘I don’t want Carmelo back on the team; we’ve got to find a way to trade him,’ ” Jackson said in the book. “I said, ‘Let’s sit with [Anthony’s agent] Leon Rose and explain we’re not going to win a championship. Carmelo wants a championship; he wants to be on a team that has a chance, and he should be; he’s a Hall of Famer.’ ”

Jackson also detailed a conversation with former Nuggets coach George Karl, who said Anthony, a star for Denver until being traded to the Knicks in 2011, rejected a defensive plan for selfish reasons in the 2009 Western Conference finals against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

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“[Karl said] ‘Kobe’s going to get his 30 points and we’ll deal with that; shut down everybody else.’ Carmelo interjected, ‘No, I disagree with that. We’ve got to defend Kobe first. We’ve got to throw everything at him,’ ” Jackson wrote. “ ‘You know why?’ George asked. ‘[Carmelo] said he wanted to be the top scorer.’ ” 

In the end, the Lakers, who were coached by Jackson, won in six games and Bryant was still the leading scorer. 

“After being with Carmelo in New York, I knew,” Jackson said about the player who has also been blamed for sabotaging the Knicks tenures of Jeremy Lin and Mike D’Antoni.

Anthony ultimately waived his no-trade clause to join the Thunder in September of 2017, less than three months after Jackson’s departure. 

In the book, Jackson also touched on his two highest draft picks as Knicks president, Kristaps Porzingis — “a good draft pick, but his brother was in the way all the time” — and Frank Ntilikina — “the NBA game turned out not to be for him. I thought he’d be great in a two-guard system, 6-4, agile, but he could never shoot.” 

Jackson acknowledged that hiring Derek Fisher as head coach was a mistake because “he wasn’t ready to coach.” He revealed an attempt to lure Tony Bennett, the longtime Virginia coach, out of college. 

“[Bennett] said, ‘My kid’s still in high school, so I’m not doing that,’ ” Jackson wrote. 

A source confirmed Jackson called Bennett for the Knicks gig, but the reason for the rejection was more so about his desire to stay at UVA. Bennett retired in 2024.

Despite all the losing and chaos during his three full seasons as Knicks president, Jackson said his lone regret was losing his romantic relationship with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. The pair called off their four-year engagement in 2016, apparently at the urging of the NBA. 

“I warned her, ‘I don’t think our relationship can survive this. I’m not going to take this job,’ ” Jackson, who signed a reported $60 million contract to run the Knicks front office, wrote. “ ‘No, don’t worry about it, we’re going to be fine.’ But she got pressure from the league because they worried about the idea of collusion that could happen between an owner and a president.”

“Masters of the Game” also gathers Jackson’s thoughts on his championship players, including Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan. For Knicks fans, Jackson discusses his former teammates Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier and Earl Monroe. 

No surprise — Jackson had better memories of them than of Carmelo.