Carmelo Anthony, a standout forward who played for Syracuse during his lone season of college basketball and went on to have a 19-year career in the National Basketball Association, announced his retirement on Monday.
Carmelo Anthony, who did not play in the NBA this season, finishes his career as the ninth leading scorer in the league’s history.
Carmelo Anthony finished his career with 28,289 points, the eighth-highest in NBA history. Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain, and Shaquille O’Neal have scored more.
“Now, the time has come for me to say goodbye… to the game that gave me purpose and pride,” Anthony said in a videotaped message announcing his decision, which he referred to as “bittersweet.”
Carmelo Anthony’s legacy has long been established; he finishes his playing career, having been named one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history, having played in 10 All-Star games, having won the scoring title six times, and having been selected for All-NBA honors six times.
Carmelo Anthony also knew what it was like to be a winner, despite the fact that he was never able to make it to the NBA Finals (he only played in the conference finals once, with Denver against the team that would go on to win the championship, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009).
When he led Syracuse to the national championship in 2003, he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. He also helped the United States win the gold medal at the Olympics three times, first in Beijing in 2008, then in London in 2012, and most recently in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
His college coach at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim, who is now retired, tweeted a “welcome to retirement” message to his old team’s all-star player.
“I am honored to have been a part of your legendary career, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for you,” Boeheim wrote in the letter. “I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for you.”
The record for most Olympic games played by a United States male athlete is held by Carmelo Anthony, who participated in four Olympic tournaments and played 31 games. Anthony’s performance against Nigeria in the 2012 games, in which he scored 37 points and made ten three-pointers, is a USA Basketball men’s record at an Olympics. In addition, his performance against Argentina in 2008, in which he went 13 for 13 from the free line, is also a record.
“Carmelo Anthony is one of the NBA’s all-time great players and ambassadors,” stated NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate him on a wonderful 19-year career, and we look forward to having him join our Hall of Fame.
Anthony is one of the ambassadors to the Basketball World Cup, the greatest tournament that FIBA hosts, which will take place this summer in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia. Anthony will continue to be involved with international basketball for at least a few more months.
Anthony reflected on his past and remarked, “I remember the days when I had nothing, just a ball on the court and a dream of something more.” “However, basketball served as my release. My towns, the locations I proudly represented, and the fans who backed me along the road gave me a great sense of purpose. My purpose was strong. I will be eternally grateful to those individuals and communities because they were instrumental in the formation of Carmelo Anthony.
Denver selected Carmelo Anthony with the third overall pick in the draft in 2003. He was a member of a star-studded class that included LeBron James at the top spot, Hall of Famer Chris Bosh at the fourth overall pick, and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade with the fifth overall pick. Wade will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer.
The Hall of Fame has indicated that Anthony will be eligible for induction into the class of 2026. His induction into the Hall of Fame is close. During his 19 seasons in the NBA, the majority of which were split between Denver and the New York Knicks, he posted a scoring average of 22.5 points per year. Anthony has often gushed about his time spent with the Knicks and what it was like to play at Madison Square Garden, especially as a child born in Brooklyn. This is especially true of Anthony’s time spent with the Knicks.
In the 2012–13 NBA season, when the Knicks won 54 games and the Atlantic Division title, he averaged a league-high 28.7 points per contest, making him the league’s leading scorer.
“The Garden,” Carmelo Anthony referred to it in 2014. “There is a good reason why they call it The Mecca.”
Carmelo Anthony played the first seven and a half seasons of his NBA career in Denver, where he became the third-leading scorer in the organization’s history. His Nuggets teams had seven consecutive winning seasons and earned seven playoff berths, but they advanced in the postseason just once, losing to the Lakers in the conference finals in six games in 2009. Despite having seven consecutive winning seasons and seven playoff berths, his teams advanced in the postseason just once.
“He wore that Nuggets jersey with pride and did a lot of great things while in a Denver Nuggets uniform, as well as all the other uniforms he wore in an illustrious career,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Monday before Denver faced the Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. The Nuggets were hoping to clinch the franchise’s first-ever appearance in the NBA Finals with a victory over the Lakers. “When you think of Carmelo, you think of one of the more elite scorers in NBA history,” said one sports commentator. “You think of a guy who comes from the D.C. metro area, goes to Syracuse, wins a championship, and then comes into the NBA and was just a bucket-getter from day one.”
In addition to Portland and Oklahoma City, Anthony finished his career with the Houston Rockets before joining the Los Angeles Lakers. However, this year, he was unable to secure a contract, so his retirement is officially official.
He mentioned in his retirement address that he is looking forward to watching his son Kiyan, a highly regarded high school shooting guard, develop over the next few years.
Anthony said, “People ask what I believe my legacy to be, and my response is…” “It’s not my accomplishments on the court, none of the awards, or the acclaim that comes to mind, for the simple reason that there is more to my narrative than basketball. My family’s history, my kid, will live on in perpetuity thanks to you. You are now in a position to take up this mantle; the moment has come.
