After 19 memorable seasons with franchises like the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, future Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony brought his impressive career to an official end on Monday.
While he never won an NBA Championship, Carmelo Anthony was one of the very best players the NBA has seen in the 21st century. After being selected by the Denver Nuggets with the third pick overall in the legendary 2003 NBA Draft — that included Lebron James and Dwayne Wade — Anthony earned 10 trips to the All-Star game during his nearly 20 years in the league.
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After several seasons as a key rotation player and sixth man for three different teams, and missing all of this season, Anthony announced in a video posted to his social media accounts on Monday that he is formally walking away from the sport for good.
“Basketball was my outlet. My purpose was strong. My communities. The cities I represented with pride and the fans that supported me along the way. I am forever grateful for those people and places because they made me Carmelo Anthony. But now the time has come for me to say goodbye. To the court where I made my name, to the game that gave me purpose and pride.”
-Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony finishes top 10 all-time in New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets scoring
There was a great deal of hype behind Carmelo Anthony when he entered the league at 19 years old after helping lead Syracuse to their one and only NCAA National Championship in 2003. And he delivered instantly for the Denver Nuggets as he quickly became a franchise anchor and top scorer for the team over his first seven and half seasons in the league.
- Carmelo Anthony stats (Career): 22.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 36% 3PT
He took the Nuggets to the postseason every year he was on the team, including a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2009. However, in most of those seasons, the team was eliminated in the first round, and by 2011 Anthony grew tired of the failures and pushed for a trade out of Denver and to the New York Knicks.
At the deadline that year he got what he wanted and went on to become the face of basketball in the city where he was born. However, similar to his run in Denver, he could never reach the lofty aspirations his talent created and the New York Knicks peaked with only a trip to the semifinals of the 2013 NBA playoffs.
Anthony’s run in New York came to a tumultuous end in 2017 after again missing the playoffs and he was eventually traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder before the 2017-2018 season. He would go on to play four more years in the league with the Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers, and most recently the Los Angeles Lakers.
He is in the top 10 for points scored in New York Knicks history, and the top 10 for points and rebounds for the Denver Nuggets.