Carmelo Anthony Reveals Former Team Tried to Recruit Him for Final Season

Carmelo Anthony could have returned to the New York Knicks for what would have been his 20th NBA season in 2022-23.

The 10-time All-Star combo forward revealed on a fresh episode of his podcast with co-host The Kid Mero, “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & Kid Mero,” that he was offered a contract to rejoin New York following what wound up being his final NBA season, 2021-22, as a bench sharpshooter for the ill-fated Los Angeles Lakers.

The Denver Nuggets selected the 6-foot-7 wing with the No. 3 overall pick out of Syracuse in a loaded 2003 NBA Draft, behind future 20-time All-NBA forward LeBron James (his eventual Lakers teammate), and future zero-time All-Star center Darko Milicic.

Now 40, Anthony concedes that he was uncomfortable with taking a reserve role on a competitive New York squad.

Anthony forced his way out of Denver and to the Knicks midway through the 2010-11 season in a blockbuster deal that depleted New York of most of its depth. Anthony played with New York through the 2016-17 season. During his best year with the Knicks, 2012-13, he led the squad to a 54-28 overall record and the East’s No. 3 seed.

That season, Anthony finished third in MVP voting, nabbed an All-NBA Second Team honor, made another All-Star team, and even finished 15th in Most Improved Player voting. He averaged a career-most 28.7 points on .452/.402/.848 shooting splits, along with 6.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 0.8 steals a night. New York advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, falling to Paul George’s Indiana Pacers in six games.

“We sat down and had a real conversation. ‘Listen, here’s a spot. You can be on the team tomorrow, but this is the spot,'” Anthony revealed. “The not knowing of when you’re going to play and not play — I’d rather not go through that,”

“I’m [going to] bow out gracefully,” Anthony continued. “Basketball ain’t the issue. I can’t do that. That’s a hell of a decline. When I look at it overall, the overall big picture, that’s a hell of a decline. So I just had to stand on that. No disrespect, but I can’t accept that.”

Without the future first-ballot Hall of Famer in tow for 2022-23, the Knicks still enjoyed a fairly robust run. Led by head coach Tom Thibodeau on the bench (who had also previously failed to recruit Anthony as a free agent in 2014 when Thibodeau was leading the Chicago Bulls), plus All-Star power forward Julius Randle and point guard Jalen Brunson on the hardwood, the Knicks finished with a 47-35 overall record and the East’s No. 5 seed. New York made quick work of the No. 4-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in a 4-1 first round series, but fell 4-2 to the Miami Heat in the East semifinals.

For his career, Anthony boasts career regular season averages of 22.5 points on .447/.355/.814 shooting splits, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks a night across 1,260 games (1,120 starts). He made 13 playoffs across his 19 playing seasons, but only advanced beyond the first round twice — going as far as the Western Conference Finals with the Nuggets in 2008-09. As one of the elite floor-spacing forwards in league history, that lack of postseason success is perhaps the biggest disappointment in an otherwise-sparkling 19-year pro run.

That said, Anthony is also an Olympic legend, having appeared in four Olympics from 2004-2016. He won four medals (three gold), and proved a uniquely tough cover in the international game.

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