While every club in town was offering Carmelo Anthony a champagne-soaked welcome bash this week, it was West Village eatery The Spotted Pig that netted the superstar and fellow new Knick Chauncey Billups Wednesday night with an intimate dinner for 40 hosted by teammate Amar’e Stoudemire.
“It was a welcome from Amar’e to two guys who changed teams midseason, to make them feel at home,” a source says.
Instead of the typically boozy baller-bash most New York nightlife impresarios had hoped to host, Stoudemire’s gathering was low-key. “It was a family gathering, like when a couple decided to get married and have no outsiders,” said a source.
Guests included teammates Roger Mason Jr., Anthony Carter, Toney Douglas, Shawne Williams, Anthony’s friend DJ Clue, Anthony’s wife, La La Vazquez, players’ girlfriends and a few MSG bigwigs. The guest list was so tight that A-list fans Spike Lee, Kanye West, Spotted Pig investor Jay-Z — who’d lobbied Anthony to join the Nets, of which he’s a minority owner — and his wife, Beyoncé, didn’t attend.
Reps from The Spotted Pig declined to comment on the party, but a source said, “They wanted to eat healthy food and drink water. The music was soft. There was a champagne toast, but most people had half-filled glasses and half of them didn’t finish.”
Sources said another reason for the sleepy affair was that Anthony was exhausted, having not slept much in the days before his first game on Wednesday. Anthony earlier rocked the Garden with 27 points and Billups knocked down 21 points in the Knicks’ 114-108 win over the Bucks.
The dinner broke up at about 2:30 a.m., early enough to get a night’s sleep before the Knicks’ 11 a.m. practice here yesterday prior to tonight’s game in Cleveland.
Meanwhile, Anthony’s wife will immediately start shooting her VH1 show, “La La’s Full Court Life,” in the city. “Cameras will be shooting La La house-hunting here, settling their son, Kiyan, into school, and balancing her acting career. Living 3,000 miles from Hollywood will make it harder.”
