TULSA — In hallway just off the court at the BOK Center, Carmelo Anthony stood against the wall, having a pregame chat with his friend Chris Paul.
They were 90 minutes away from their preseason debuts with a pair of new teams — Anthony with the Thunder, Paul with the Rockets — and just outside Houston's locker room, they shared a pregame moment with Russell Westbrook.
For much of this offseason, it seemed Paul, not Westbrook, would end up Anthony's teammate. But the Rockets never could finalize a trade with the Knicks, who dealt Anthony to OKC just before the start of training camp.