As a sports fan, the story grew as tiresome as the endless loop of Brett Favre updates ESPN fed us last summer.

Carmelo Anthony is headed to the Knicks! Wait, the Nets! The Lakers are interested, and they're willing to part with Andrew Bynum and his elderly knees? Well, sources say he only wants to sign an extension with the Knicks. The Nets are back in!

At last, it's over. Anthony is, indeed, a Knick. And Chris Broussard can move on to other NBA stories.

From a fantasy perspective, like fans in general, there were more losers than winners in the Knicks' deal with the Nuggets.

Anthony's value is a wash, since you depend on him for scoring, some rebounding (7.6 per game), free-throw percentage and not much else. He has another star to share the rock with in New York (Amare Stoudemire, for those who play fantasy but have no idea about real-life hoops), but Coach Mike D'Antoni has never been shy about running and gunning.

I would give Chauncey Billups' value a slight upgrade, since he should play major minutes for New York, which traded point guard Raymond Felton to Denver. Billups is a decent scorer and is a big help in 3-pointers made (2.1 per game) and free-throw percentage (92.3).

The rest: losers.

Felton, Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari are the big names headed west, and all three had been surprisingly productive under D'Antoni.

Felton was averaging 17.1 points, 9.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.6 3-pointers per game. But he joins a team that already has its point guard of the future in Ty Lawson (10.4 points, 3.7 assists, 50.1 field-goal percentage, 39.0 percent on 3s).

At best, you should expect Felton to share minutes with Lawson, which isn't good for those of us who were enjoying the former's breakout season.

The outlook isn't as grim for the 6-foot-8 Chandler and the 6-10 Gallinari, but it's not great for three reasons: Aaron Afflalo, J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin.

Gallinari can play power forward, but is better suited to play the '3,' where he could take Anthony's place in the starting lineup.

Or Coach George Karl could start Chandler at the 3, Martin (13.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, 1.2 steals) at the 4, Nene at center, and have Lawson or Felton be joined by Afflalo at the 2.

No matter in which direction Karl goes, the bottom line is Felton and Chandler or Felton and Gallinari could be bench players.

With Felton, Lawson, Afflalo (12.8 points, 50.2 field-goal percentage, 1.6 3s per game, 43.8 3-point percentage, 86.0 free-throw percentage) and Smith (11.2 points, 1.2 treys per game, 3.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals), the Nuggets are pretty deep in the backcourt.

That would lead us to believe Chandler and Gallinari will split time at small forward, and Gallinari could play some at power forward.

Felton averaged 38.4 minutes per game in New York, compared to 34.8 for Gallinari and 34.5 for Chandler.

All three of those totals will be reduced. By how much, we will find out in the coming weeks.

See how Karl divides his players' time this week, and if two of the three high-scoring former Knicks are reserves, they probably should be on your fantasy bench, too.

Nazr Mohammed has never averaged in double figures and might be best known as the starting center in one of the worst NBA Finals ever.

You might remember (if you're lucky, you don't) the 2005 Finals, a season that concluded with Mohammed's Spurs defeating the Pistons in seven games. The average margin of victory for the seven contests was 14.4 points, and only one team scored 100 points -- the Pistons in a 102-71 Game 4 victory.

What do the 2005 Finals have to do with Mohammed the fantasy player? Nothing, really, other than it's nice to see the veteran center contribute something much more important than playing a small role in a championship I would only rewatch if I was forced to choose between Game 7 and an interview with Snooki and The Situation.

Mohammed is available in 98 percent of the leagues on ESPN.com, a number that is every bit as confusing as the "Jersey Shore" phenomenon.

The Bobcats center has had at least 10 rebounds in five of his last seven games, and his numbers from the last six read as follows: 14.3 points, 11 rebounds, one block, 66.1 percent from the field and 70.6 percent from the free-throw line.

Some owners might be scared off by the fact Tyson Chandler is back after missing almost two months because of a foot injury. But in the two games, the oft-injured Chandler has played a total of 22 minutes and had seven points and four rebounds. Wednesday, with Chandler logging all of 12 minutes, Mohammed started and had 21 points, 20 rebounds, two steals and one block in 40 minutes.

For the season, the 12-year veteran is shooting 57.3 percent from the field and averaging 10 rebounds per 33 minutes.

Unless Chandler starts playing significant time, Mohammed -- as a center who can help you in points, rebounds and field-goal percentage -- is a starter in deeper leagues.

Don't hold the summer of 2005 against him.

-- Backup plan: Chauncey Billups owners might be among the few who have noticed the production of his protege, Nuggets rookie Ty Lawson. If you are playing Billups, who has been bothered by sprains to both ankles, and you're in a weekly league, Lawson is a must-have.

The rookie, who is owned in only 11.3 percent of the ESPN leagues, had 25 points, four assists and four rebounds when Billups missed a loss at Utah on Feb. 6. Even with Billups back, Lawson tallied 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds on Tuesday.

The latter is averaging 9.6 points in 22.5 minutes per game. He's shooting 51.2 percent from the field, 43.5 percent from 3-point range and 78.3 percent from the line.

If you're in a daily league, the choice on Lawson is more difficult because you use everyone on your roster and he doesn't play significant minutes. But he is playing enough of late (24.5 minutes in January and 24.8 this month) to make an impact.