Carmelo Anthony has retired from the NBA after 19 seasons, making the announcement on Monday in a video (Twitter link).
The 38-year-old forward was a 10-time All-Star and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. He ranks ninth on the career scoring list with 28,289 points in 1,260 career games with the Nuggets, Knicks, Thunder, Rockets, Trail Blazers and Lakers.
“Now the time has come for me to say goodbye,” Anthony said in the video. “To the court where I made my name, to the game that gave me purpose and pride.”
Anthony remained unsigned this season after averaging 13.3 PPG in 69 games with L.A. in 2021/22. There was a rumor in February that Kevin Durant and Chris Paul might lobby the Suns to add him as a veteran off the bench, but nothing was ever worked out. He also reportedly drew interest from teams in Taiwan last November, but wasn’t willing to play there.
The Hall of Fame will likely be the next stop for Anthony, who was selected with the third pick by Denver in the 2003 draft after winning a national championship in his lone season at Syracuse. He played eight seasons with the Nuggets before moving on to New York, where he captured the league’s scoring title in 2013.
In addition to his NBA accomplishments, Anthony leaves behind a strong legacy in international competition. He appeared in four Olympics, winning three gold medals and a bronze, and represented Team USA in the World Championship and Americas Championship as well.
Anthony will serve as one of three global ambassadors for this year’s FIBA World Cup.
Interesting. Melo was the only one in the room that did not realize he was already retired. Glad he was brought up to speed.
Grow up. Melo gave 19 years to the NBA and it’s viewers. Age happens and it will find everyone. He was an amazing talent and I’m glad I got to see him hoop. Thank you, Carmelo.
The NBA gave Melo 10 years more than he deserved. He was a one dimensional “star” that refused to play defense, pass, or extend any effort beyond chucking up shots.
To each their own. We do not need to agree on what we find entertaining about the league.
He never advertised to be any of the things you said he lacked. The one thing he knew well, and did very well, was score. One of the best to play that had inside and outside game. His shot was so sweet to watch. And he rebounded well, too.
Great career, nonetheless.
@Dusty: Melo shot .447/.355/.814 for his career on a lot of shots. He’s one of the greatest pure scorers the league has ever seen. This is not an opinion, it is a fact.
I do not disagree. He could score. But his refusal to improve in any of the other areas is one of the main reasons the Knicks went into such a sharp decline a year into his run with the team. He was a blackhole on offense, killing ball movement by playing isolation basketball. His ‘me before team’ approach is a major reason he has zero NBA titles to his name. Yes,it’s a team sport,so it is not entirely his fault…..but as the “super-star”, he needed to be a better leader and team player.
He had to do it OFFICIALLY so that the time can begin tickin for when he becomes eligible for his pension direct-deposits.
The longer he puts off officially retiring, the longer…..
I wonder how much of an irritant George Karl is about to make himself. He’s made a post-career of trashing on Melo.
Good, now all the Carmelo simps can stfu.
Melo is the TMAC of this generation. No ring , no retired jersey, yet HOF.
Peak T-Mac was better, but Melo lasted longer and had a better career IMO.
T-Mac was my favourite player when I was young, but in retrospective he had a terrible career considering his talent. He is one of the “worst” HOF of recent years in terms of accolades.
Never winning a series is insane.
He just announced his retirement. Im sure the Knicks will retire his jersey.
I’ll always remember him more for that Syracuse run than his NBA career. Great career nonetheless.
Really don’t understand why no one brought him in as a bench scorer this season?
Zero D. One of the worst defenders in the NBA
Yeah, but so are Duncan Robinson, Coby White and Dougie McBuckets, all of who had lesser 3PT percentages the last two years than Melo’s last two. A bench can always use a knock down shooter from the corners, which is what Melo reinvented himself as.
I was never the biggest fan of Melos game in the early years, but I always liked the guy. He got a bad rap because he was such an Iso scorer even as the league changed to ball movement and open threes. Not everyone of his teammates liked playing with him on the court, but he was one of the most popular guys in the locker room. Great career, hope he sticks around basketball in some capacity.
One major problem. Those guys cooperate with their team’s systems. Carmelo has never been about adjusting to a team system. He was about team’s adjusting to him as indicated many times, including his own words when he was returning from injury during the ‘Lin-Sanity’ period. Sorry but when you say stuff like he didn’t need to adjust to what the team was doing that was leading to wins, and that they had to adjust to him because “I been doin’ this fo’ years”, teams aren’t going to sign up for that guy when he never changes. Carmelo was just like his old teammate AI. Too bad he didn’t take a good look at the aging AI and determine that he didn’t want to have the same ending as AI. However, he ended up with the same ending due to the same ego and ‘me me me’ stuff.
Dude they all don’t play defense. Zero
He should have been on a roster this year. Yeah, he plays no defense, but he never has and at 38, he’s not going to start now. He’d have been a perfect bench guy in Boston, cause their bench (besides Brogdon) leaves a lot to be desired.
Damn…Carmelp Anthony is one of my favorite players of all time. I dont care what anyone says. Always was. I always blamed the Knicks and Houston for ruining his reputation, and turning him into a scapegoat for their shortcoming, ineptitude, and overall incompetence. He did have opportunities to save himself by going to the right places at the right time, and actually being used correctly…like the Heat a couple of different times even relatively recently, or even the damn Knicks themselves.
Congrats and thank you, Melo on an incredible 20+ years of what for me was some of the greatest talent I’ve ever seen, and still believe in to this day. I still think you have a lot left and can help so many more competent teams, and I just really wish you had the narratives you deserve, but always have to respect when guys make that ultimate decision. As a Heat fan, I think you were a winning player that only arguably played on a good team one time early on, and then unfortunately never again, and those narratives should be a lot different. Hope you’ll stay around. I started following you when you were in high school and I was only 10 years old. No doubt in my mind you lived up to the hype. Carmelo Anthony: First ballot, unquestioned Hall of Famer that should have your number retired in 2 places. Unbelievable half court scorer, and overall, but that was something that is still so huge in the playoffs, and is my favorite part of your game. Just one of the more skilled and smooth players I’ve watched over history, and at your size at the 4, and as a spacer, and I always thought you competed defensively. I honestly cant say enough, so I’ll just say again. Thanks for the memories
Who cares ????
I care as much as he cared about winning.
Round 2 bitterness is clouding your judgement Al
One of the great ‘me me me’ guys is now gone.
Interesting thing is that Carmelo Anthony had moments when he could’ve changed his game and career as a whole.
First, out of his control, was that if somehow he fell to Miami, we all know the Heat would’ve built his game on a whole different level. People forget that he was a better talent than both D-Wade and Chris Bosh. We see that D-Wade became a far better all-around player. And we see that Bosh’s game on both sides expanded greatly. A couple of draft spots lower, or the ping pong ball going up 2 slots for the Heat, and Melo could’ve ended up being every bit as good as LeBron.
Another moment was in his control. If when he was in Denver, and the short period he played with AI, if Carmelo had an epiphany that he was staring at his future of being a ball hog with no rings, he could’ve changed things. He never had that realization and thus had a similar end as AI – bouncing around at the end, no rings, and career ending a tiny bit earlier than it should because he was still serviceable but not worth it to teams because of the ball hog mentality.
Another opportunity was when the Heat were about to lose LeBron to Cleveland, the Heat were courting Melo too. However, Melo went for the Knicks money when the Heat were prepared to insert him into LeBron’s role alongside D-Wade and Bosh. Makes one wonder if that had anything to do with knowing how the Heat system and Culture work, the fact he was going to be D-Wade’s sidekick (unlike LeBron), and he was going to be required to be a team-first player. We’ll never know, but I think most of us can agree that, had Melo held out and waited a couple of days for LeBron’s departure, and Melo went to Miami, the latter part of his prime would’ve seen him reinvent himself in a way that kept his prime longer and his career having more longevity.
Heat beat Toronto the last game of the season 2002, and I was so mad b/c I wanted Chris Bosh. I knew we weren’t getting Lebron or Melo…but ya that worked out well. I realized who we drafted b/c I recognized him from a random college basketball game I had seen, which I’m sure now had to have been in the NCAA tournament, and then I knew we got someone amazing. I was worried they were going to draft Kaman or Ford, who I didnt really like…
They also had a chance to get him when LeBron, wade, bosh, and Melo all signed extensions, but Melo signed for 5 full years, instead of 3, and so he couldnt be part of that situation, but that would have made that whole era totally different…you are right about that summer after, but I definitely wanted Deng as well, and unfortunately Granger and Mcroberts didnt work at all. If they had Melo instead…We ended up getting Joe Johnson in that buyout, but unfortunately the classic 10+ years of not being close to healthy issue happened at the worst possible time
Also could have had him a couple of times since 2017, including when he was out of the league, and he would have helped. Even a year or 2 ago…
should of been a piston.
He would have been the perfect fit on that team too
Maybe not. You don’t know. Maybe Darko riding the bench is what they needed.
Melo’s defense was surprisingly better last year and he can still score and shoot the 3 in smaller samples. With some of the terrible benches out there I’m a little disappointed he didn’t get a call. I really think no one wanted to see him blast shots to his head while side skipping down the court after every made shot. Melo was a black hole for the Knicks and those types of players rarely win titles, but he was a great scorer and had some memorable scoring nights. My favorite Melo team was 07-08 Nuggets with AI, K-Mart, Camby And JR. That was a fun season!
Silver doesn’t want veterans anymore. Get over it people this is silvers NBA