One of the most exciting basketball players of the last 20 years is calling it a career, as Carmelo Anthony, 39, announced his retirement.
Anthony was born in New York City, and would play one year collegiately for Syracuse in 2002-03, where he led the Orange to a National Championship. He was taken third overall that year in the NBA Draft (the most loaded class of all-time that also included LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) by the Denver Nuggets.
Melo did not take long to become a scoring machine in the Mile High City, averaging over 20 Points per Game as a rookie, and for the next 13 years, he never finished a season below that threshold. The Nuggets improved under Anthony, who went to four All-Star Games there, and took them to the 2009 Conference Finals.
Growing frustrated in Denver, Anthony sought a trade, preferably to New York, which was granted in February of 2011. Now the face of New York City basketball, Anthony had his best run, adding six more All-Star, and a Scoring Title (2012-13). The Knicks did not win a championship with Melo, but he was by far and wide their best player while he was there.
Anthony looked for a trade in 2017, which he got, to Oklahoma City, but his game went into a steep decline. He bounced over his final four years playing also for Houston, Portland and the Lakers, last playing in 2021-22.
While an NBA Title never came to fruition for Anthony, he does have three Olympic Gold Medals with the United States. He is also a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, and was chosen for six All-NBA Teams (two Second, and four Third). Anthony leaves the game as the ninth-leading scorer (28, 289).
In our 2022-23 Pre-Season Hall of Fame Monitor of active players, Anthony was ranked at #13.
He is eligible for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2026, where he should be a first-ballot entrant.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to wish Carmelo Anthony the best in his post-playing career.
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