Are the Atlanta Hawks really in on LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony?

Since the moment LeBron James announced that he was opting out of his contract with the Miami Heat on Tuesday morning, the NBA world has been going crazy about where the best player in the league will land. At this point, the odds seem to indicate that he will remain in Miami, but until that leaning becomes fact, people are going to speculate and teams are going to try their best to lure in the league’s best.

Apparently, that’s what the Atlanta Hawks are going to do. A story on ESPN by Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein links the team to both James and New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony:

"In addition to the Miami Heat’s obvious desire to retain James by any means necessary and pursue Anthony if he urges them to do so, sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the Cleveland Cavaliersand Atlanta Hawks are among the teams mulling potential trades designed to clear enough cap space to be able to recruit the two stars and close friends."

Later in the piece:

"Atlanta has one of the most flexible rosters in the league, with multiple options to move attractive players to other teams to create space. The Hawks, however, have been somewhat reluctant to completely gut their roster as they hope to build off some success from last season."

I would be shocked if either player actually wanted to jump on board with the Hawks. This sounds a whole lot like what happened last year with Chris Paul and Dwight Howard both being rumored to Atlanta, but the indication that Atlanta has a flexible roster is an accurate one, and with a talent like LeBron seemingly available, the possibilities are endless. No one would characterize the Hawks as a favorite to land either player, but it isn’t a coincidence that they have been linked to both, especially this early in the process.

Stay tuned as the pursuit of both James and Anthony heats up, and if the Hawks really have thoughts of adding one or both players, you will certainly hear about it in this space.