Phil Jackson: Unfixable Carmelo relationship led to Knicks exit

Oct 29, 2025, 08:22 AM ET

Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson unloaded about his failed relationship with Carmelo Anthony during his tenure as Knicks president, writing in an upcoming book that he felt the tension between the two essentially forced him out of New York in 2017.

Jackson, as part of the book “Masters of the Game: A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players” set for release Tuesday, addressed his time as Knicks president from 2014 to 2017 during the chapter of the book on Anthony. He detailed a conversation with James Dolan in which the Knicks owner questioned whether the media would run Jackson out of town, with Jackson responding that his broken pairing with Anthony meant one of them needed to leave.

“[Dolan] said, ‘I don’t want you to go through it. I know what it’s like to deal with these people [the media],'” Jackson says in the book. “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.'”

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Excerpts from the book were published Wednesday by the New York Post.

Jackson ultimately left the Knicks in June 2017 after the team decided at the time not to buy out Anthony’s contract.

Jackson’s time as Knicks president was most notable for the strained relationship with Anthony, who was traded to New York in February 2011. Jackson made critical comments of the star forward to reporters and on social media, drawing a rebuke at the time from the then-executive director of the players’ union. The situation was viewed as beyond repair by the end of the 2017 season.

In the book, Jackson addressed a meeting with Dolan in which Jackson said they needed to trade Anthony.

“I said, ‘I don’t want Carmelo back on the team; we’ve got to find a way to trade him,'” Jackson said. “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’s exit didn’t improve things between the Knicks and Anthony, who was dealt three months later to the Oklahoma City Thunder after waiving his no-trade clause.

Anthony previously pointed the blame for his Knicks departure at Jackson as well, addressing the topic with Dwyane Wade in a web series in February 2024.

“When I left New York, I didn’t leave New York,” Anthony said. “I got pushed out of New York. Phil pushed me out of New York. I struggled to leave New York.”

Jackson addresses other aspects of his Knicks tenure in the book, saying the hiring of Derek Fisher as coach was a mistake because he “wasn’t ready to coach” and saying the job cost him his romantic relationship with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.

“She got pressure from the league because they worried about the idea of collusion that could happen between an owner and a president,” Jackson said.

“Masters of the Game,” with Jackson and longtime Chicago Tribune sportswriter Sam Smith as the authors, includes Jackson’s input on a number of players he coached to championships, including Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, among other NBA greats past and present.

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