Knicks Acquire Four-Time All-Star Carmelo Anthony New York Also Adds Five-Time All-Star Chauncey Billups in a Three-Team Trade NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New York Knickerbockers President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh announced today that the team has acquired four-time All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony, who was signed to a contract extension prior to the trade, and five-time All-Star guard Chauncey Billups in a three-team, 13-player trade with the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves. The trade also sent guard Anthony Carter and forwards Renaldo Balkman and Shelden Williams from Denver and swingman Corey Brewer from Minnesota to New York. New York has traded forwards Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari, guard Raymond Felton, center Timofey Mozgov, a future first-round draft selection, two future second- round draft selections (originally acquired from Golden State on Jul. 9, 2010) and cash and future draft considerations to Denver, and has sent center Eddy Curry, forward Anthony Randolph and cash considerations to Minnesota. Minnesota acquired a future second round draft selection from Denver and Denver acquired Kosta Koufos from Minnesota. Madison Square Garden, Inc. (Nasdaq:MSG) owns the Knicks. "At 26 years old, Carmelo is in the prime of his NBA career having already established himself as a one of the game's elite players and the opportunity to add him to our roster was one we could not pass up," Walsh said. "I feel we now have a great frontcourt tandem in Amar'e and Carmelo and this is an exciting day for the New York Knicks and all our fans. It is extremely difficult to trade away players, but we feel like the team is in better position to win and we have excellent players to build around for years to come." Anthony, 6-8, 230-pounds, has career averages of 24.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 564 career games (564 starts) in seven seasons with the Denver Nuggets. The Brooklyn, NY-native was selected by the Nuggets with the third overall selection in the 2003 NBA Draft following his freshman season at Syracuse University, where he led the Orangemen to their first national championship in 2003 and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. A four-time All-NBA selection and four-time NBA All Star, Anthony has averaged at least 20 points in each of his seven NBA seasons and earned an Olympic Gold Medal with Team USA in the 2008 games in Beijing. Anthony has averages of 25.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 50 games with Denver this season. "Carmelo is one of the top pure scorers in the league and like Amar'e, I believe he will really embrace the opportunity to play back home in New York and help us continue our goal of building towards a championship," said Knicks Head Coach Mike D'Antoni. "Chauncey is a winner and having a veteran point guard of his caliber will be extremely valuable in helping us win games, especially in the playoffs." Billups, 6-3, 202-pounds, has career averages of 15.5 points, 5.6 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 961 games (867 starts) in 14 NBA seasons with Toronto, Boston, Denver, Minnesota and Detroit. Originally selected by Boston with the third overall selection of the 1997 NBA Draft following his sophomore season at the University of Colorado, Billups has been named an NBA All-Star five times and is a three-time All-NBA selection. The Denver, CO-native has led his team to the playoffs in each of his last 10 seasons and was named the 2004 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player after leading the Detroit Pistons to the NBA title. In 51 games with Denver during the 2010-11 campaign, Billups has averages of 16.5 points and 5.3 assists per game. Carter, 6-2, 195-pounds, has career averages of 5.0 points and 3.9 assists in 580 games (181 starts) in 12 NBA seasons with Miami, San Antonio, Minnesota and Denver. Undrafted out of the University of Hawaii, the Atlanta, GA-native has six years of playoff experience. Carter has averaged 1.9 points, 1.9 assists and 10.9 minutes in 14 games with Denver this season. Balkman, 6-8, 208-pounds, returns to New York with career averages of 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 204 career games (12 starts) with the Knicks and Denver. Originally selected by New York with the 20th overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft out of the University of South Carolina, Balkman was born on Staten Island, NY. He was traded by New York to Denver on July 28, 2008 and has appeared in five games this season with Denver. Williams, 6-9, 250-pounds, has career averages of 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 286 games (63 starts) in five NBA seasons with Atlanta, Sacramento, Minnesota, Boston and Denver. The Oklahoma City, OK-native was originally selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the fifth overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft following a standout career at Duke. Williams left Duke as the school's all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots and had his number retired by the school in 2007. Williams is averaging 4.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 42 games with Denver this season. Brewer, 6-9, 188-pounds, has career averages 9.1 points and 3.3 rebounds in 232 games (147 starts) in four NBA seasons with Minnesota. The Portland, TN-native was drafted by Minnesota with the seventh overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft out of the University of Florida where he helped lead the Gators to back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. Brewer started all 82 games for Minnesota last season in 2009-10 and averaged a career-high 13.0 points per game. Brewer is averaging 8.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 56 games this season with the Timberwolves. Chandler, 6-8, 225-pounds, leaves New York having averaged 14.0 points and 5.2 rebounds in 233 games (180 starts) in four seasons with the Knicks. The Benton Harbor, MI-native was drafted by New York with the 23rd overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft. Chandler averaged 16.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in 51 games (30 starts) with New York this season. Gallinari, 6-10, 225-pounds, departs with career averages of 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 157 games (124 starts) with New York over three NBA seasons. The Milan, Italy-native was selected by New York with the sixth overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft. In 48 games with New York in 2010-11, Gallinari averaged a career-high of 15.9 points per game. Felton, 6-1, 205-pounds, has career averages of 13.8 points and 6.8 assists in 453 games (423 starts) in six NBA seasons with Charlotte and New York. The Latta, SC-native was originally selected by Charlotte with the fifth overall selection in the 2005 NBA Draft out of the University of North Carolina. Felton signed with New York as a free agent prior to the 2010-11 season and averaged 17.1 points and 9.0 assists in 54 games with the Knicks. Mozgov, 7-1, 250-pounds, signed with New York as a free agent prior to the 2010-11 season. The St. Petersburg, Russia-native averaged 4.0 points and 3.1 rebounds in 34 games with New York in his rookie campaign. Randolph, 6-11, 225-pounds, has career averages of 8.1 points and 5.5 rebounds in 113 games (50 starts) with Golden State and New York. Originally selected by Golden State with the 14th overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft, Randolph was acquired by New York in a four-player trade prior to the 2010-11 season. In 17 games with New York in 2010-11, Randolph averaged 2.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Curry, 7-0, 295-pounds, has career averages of 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds over 511 games (410 starts) with Chicago and New York. Originally selected by Chicago out of high school with the fourth overall selection in the 2001 NBA Draft, Curry was acquired by New York from Chicago prior to the 2005-06 season. Curry has been limited to 10 games over the last three NBA seasons due to injury and has not appeared in a game this season. The NBA's New York Knickerbockers basketball team, in its 65th year of operation, is part of Madison Square Garden (Nasdaq:MSG), a fully-integrated sports, entertainment and media business. The company is comprised of three business segments: MSG Sports, MSG Entertainment and MSG Media, which are strategically aligned to work together to drive MSG's overall business, which is built on a foundation of iconic venues and compelling content that MSG creates, produces, presents and/or distributes through its programming networks and other media assets. MSG Sports consists of owning and operating sports franchises, including the New York Knicks (NBA), the New York Rangers (NHL), the New York Liberty (WNBA), and the Connecticut Whale (AHL). MSG Sports also features other sports properties, including the presentation of a wide variety of live sporting events including professional boxing, college basketball, track and field and tennis. MSG Entertainment is one of the country's leaders in live entertainment. MSG Entertainment creates, produces and/or presents a variety of live productions, including the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Radio City Rockettes.