Bulls and Nuggets talking Carmelo trade?

Denver Nuggets scoring machine Carmelo Anthony has made it clear that he’s not interested in playing in Denver anymore. He has little to no interest in the three-year, $65 million contract extension that’s on the table and he’d like to play elsewhere.

They’re saying now that he’d like to play for the New York Knicks or the Chicago Bulls (we’ve also heard Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic, so take that with a grain of salt).

Well, a league source tells ESPNChicago.com that the Bulls are discussing a trade for Carmelo that might include Joakim Noah. Noah is in the final year of his rookie deal that pays him $3.1 million this year, so obviously more would have to be included.

But, the source says that it wouldn’t include Luol Deng, because the Nuggets are leery of taking on big contracts with the CBA set to expire in June 2011. Deng is two years into a six-year, $71 million deal.

As recently as August 31, the Nuggets are still delusional about all this.

“I think I’m going to convince him to be a Nugget,” Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri said then. “No, I don’t know, I can’t make a judgment on that. Like I said, it’s a process and until he tells me that … we want him back, the city wants him back, ownership wants him back.”

We can’t see ‘Melo playing for the Nuggets this year, but stranger things have happened.