Why Carmelo Anthony Didn’t Return to Knicks

During the summer of 2022, the New York Knicks engaged in transactional discussions with a Big East and national champion destined for big bucks.

But enough about Carmelo Anthony.

Anthony, whose storied NBA career is best-known for his six-plus seasons with the Knicks (2011-17), opened the latest episode of his web series “7PM in Brooklyn” by confirming that he nearly returned to New York in 2022, less than a year before he announced his retirement.

“My plan is playing out the way that I wrote it out: to come back to New York, finish it out in New York, play, it’s a good team, I can still play ball, I can still help the team out,” Anthony recalled. “My goal was always to make it back, to finish it out (in New York), anyway.”

At that time, Anthony had wrapped what would become his final NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers. In 69 appearances, Anthony averaged 13.3 points and 4.2 rebounds at age 37. While nowhere near the heights of his heyday, it was a “feel-good year” and enough to convince Anthony that he could contribute to a hopeful program.

The Knicks were coming off a disappointing follow-up to their first playoff season since 2013, having gone 37-45 and missing the postseason entirely in 2021-22. New York’s headlining move of the ensuing offseason was signing Brunson, the Dallas Mavericks’ postseason hero, to a four-year, $104 million contract that has since become a bargain in the wake of his metropolitan breakout.

Anthony said that the “energy and conversations” around the situation convinced him that the gears were in motion for a Manhattan reunion. But once he sat down with Knicks management, momentum died out, as Anthony implied that he wasn’t satisfied with merely taking up a roster spot with no guarantee of floor time.

“They had a spot on the roster,” Anthony said. “Respectfully, the powers that be, we sat down and had a real conversation. Listen, here’s a spot. You could be on the team tomorrow, but this is the spot. I said nah. Nah, I can’t. The not knowing of when you’re going to play, not going to play, I’d rather not go through that.”

Anthony instead opted to “bow out gracefully” rather than serve as a de facto 12th man, and his decision was well-vindicated once the season started: while the Knicks won 47 games and returned to the playoffs (winning a playoff series for the first time since Anthony’s heyday in 2013), they did so at the minutes expense of several notable veterans.

The case of Derrick Rose was particularly glaring, as the 2010-11 MVP appeared in just one regular season game after Jan. 1. Other exiles included veteran sharpshooter Evan Fournier and young project Cam Reddish. Third-year man Obi Toppin, a lottery pick in the 2021 draft, averaged less than 16 minutes a game.

Anthony personally compared the situation to that of Taj Gibson’s: the recurring Tom Thibodeau trustee returned for 16 Knick games last season but averaged less than 11 minutes in that span while serving in more of an inspirational/veteran presence role than any form of box score difference-maker. Anthony made it clear that wasn’t a role he wanted, especially with his NBA sunset looming.

“I had to stand on that,” Anthony said. “No disrespect. These are people that I really f*** with, you know, we had real relationships. So it was just like now I can’t accept that. I don’t even think you all want me in that role … You offered it, but you ain’t really offered it … that’s not the representation of New York Knicks, No. 7, Melo, that we want people to remember.”

Anthony wound up watching the 2022-23 season and announced his retirement last spring. His retirement officially allowed the debate around his New York legacy to tip off, as some have argued that his No. 7 jersey should join those of other metropolitan legends like Patrick Ewing, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and Willis Reed.

As it stands, Anthony rank at or near the top of several major Knicks statistical categories, incluing the most points in a single game (62) and the longest streak of 20-point games (31). Anthony is also one of seven players to score at least 10,000 points in a Knicks jersey, joining Ewing, Frazier, Reed, Allan Houston, Carl Braun, and Richie Guerin.

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