NBA: What’s Next For Carmelo Anthony?

Love him or hate him, Carmelo Anthony has certainly had a storied NBA career to this point. A 10-time NBA All-Star, two-time All-NBA second team, and four-time All-NBA third team, there’s no denying that Anthony has accomplished a lot more than your average NBA player. He was also the face of the New York Knicks for almost a decade, an impressive feat as well considering how cut throat the New York media market can be. He put up a career-best 28.7 points in 2013 and finished third in the MVP race as he led the 54-28 Knicks to a first round win over the Boston Celtics. However, ever since Anthony left the Knicks in 2017 to try and create a “superteam” with Paul George and Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, father time unfortunately decided that it was Anthony's time to regress drastically.

Anthony averaged just 16.2 points per game with the Thunder, which was the first year of his career where he failed to average 20+ points. After what could certainly be described as an underachieving season in 2018, Carmelo was traded by the Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks, and subsequently released days later. He was eventually signed by the Houston Rockets at the start of the 2018-19 season, but was traded to the Chicago Bulls and eventually released again. Now at age 34, Anthony is a free agent with no suitors in sight. So the question is, what should he do next? Personally, I think Anthony needs to follow in the footsteps of fellow 2003 NBA Draft mate and good friend Dwyane Wade, and hang up the shoes.

At this stage of the game, its pretty clear that all 30 franchises see Carmelo as damaged goods, and are quite hesitant to take another chance on him. Anthony would probably be better off getting a TV gig as an ESPN or TNT analyst than tarnishing his stellar legacy any further. He will still be remembered as one of the best pure scorers of this generation as his career average still sits at an impressive 24.0 points, while shooting 44.9% from the field. He also averaged 6.5 rebounds per game. Anthony will certainly go down as the best Knicks player since Patrick Ewing. He also has a wife and kids, so he could spend more time with his family for certain if he retires. Ultimately, he may not even have a choice in the matter if no teams reach out to him.

Photo Credit: Fadeaway World.