After days of waiting to see if he would be traded to the Sixers in February, Joel Anthony made his way to the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday still a member of the Detroit Pistons.
Anthony was part of a three-team deal between the Sixers, Pistons and Rockets that would have sent him and a 2017 second-round pick to Philadelphia. However, the Pistons voided the trade because of Donatas Motiejunas’ medical evaluation.
The 33-year-old was in a holding pattern while he awaited the final decision.
“It was pretty weird,” he said Saturday. “It was a strange situation. For the first few days, I was pretty much in Detroit on my own not knowing what was going on.”
Even if the trade had been completed, Anthony still would have faced uncertainty. According to a league source, the Sixers were likely to have waived Anthony, who is earning $2.5 million this season. Anthony was aware of this possibility.
“I was spending that time wondering, ‘Well, I might end up going to Philly, but I might not,’” he said. “I wanted to know what their plans were, whether or not they were going to look to keep me. I wasn’t sure.”
Being traded hasn’t been a big part of Anthony’s career. He spent the first six seasons on the same team, the Heat, before Miami sent him to the Celtics in January 2014. That October the Celtics dealt him to the Pistons, his third team in nine seasons.
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What ifs that he wasn’t used to dealing with came flooding toward him while he waited for the final word.
“I’m thinking, am I going to have to pack and get all my stuff together?” Anthony said. “But I don’t know where I’m going, so what am I doing? Am I putting myself in storage?”
For a veteran who has had a good amount of stability in his career, Anthony found himself in a new position during this period of wait-and-see.
“I was in no man’s land for a couple days,” he said.