Carmelo Anthony has admitted that he seriously considered joining the Chicago Bulls earlier this off-season.

The forward opted out of the final year of his contract with the New York Knicks in order to test free agency, only to agree a new deal to remain at Madison Square Garden.

The 30-year-old told ESPN: "It was overwhelming. It was stressful in the final days, one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.

"I was flip-flopping. It was hard. It was Chicago, but then after I met with LA, it was LA But it came back to Chicago, and was pretty much always Chicago or New York. That's a situation where I could have walked in now to an opportunity to compete for the next however many years.

"I want to win. I don't care about the money. I believe Phil [Jackson, Knicks president] will do what he has to do to take care of that. I don't think we're that far away. People use 'rebuilding' too loosely."

Anthony signed a five-year contract worth $124m (£73m) earlier this month.