Getty Carmelo Anthony, La La Anthony and son Kiyan Anthony
Team USA Basketball reportedly isn’t interested in inviting Carmelo Anthony to play on their select team and his wife, LaLa Anthony has his back.
“Out of respect, they should [call him],” LaLa Anthony told TMZ at LAX this morning.
“I’m not saying he wants to play or he doesn’t want to play.”
Melo’s Team USA credentials are impressive.
Per TMZ: Carmelo Anthony is “the only Team USA basketball player to compete in 4 different Olympics, … [and] the first Team USA player to win 3 gold medals.” He’s also ranked first in games played (31), points scored (336), rebounds (125), and free throws made (53), among other distinctions. It is unclear as to whether Team USA has been in contact with Anthony.
Carmelo Anthony hasn’t played NBA basketball since November 8, 2018, in a game against his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A 10-time NBA All-Star, Anthony signed with the Houston Rockets this summer after clearing waivers in a trade that shipped him from the Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks.
Appearing on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club last week, Carmelo Anthony’s trainer, Chris Brickley told hosts, DJ Envy and Angela Yee that Anthony is still better than current NBA players right now.
“He’s easily better than 60 percent, 70 percent of the NBA players walking around,” he said.
“It’s just that teams are afraid of ‘I want to be a starter.’ It’s not the case. Melo just wants to have a farewell season, do what D-Wade did. Have a jersey swap. He had a great career, he’s a Hall of Famer. So hopefully that could happen.”
When asked by DJ Envy if Carmelo Anthony could start on an NBA team, Brickley spoke his truth: “Yes,” he said.
“If given the [right] situation.”
Chris Brickley is not the only NBA expert to discuss Carmelo Anthony’s ability to start for an NBA franchise.
While appearing on a past episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, DJ Envy told me himself that Melo is the man!
“I love Melo,” DJ Envy told Scoop B Radio.
Getty ImagesCarmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson during their days with the Nuggets.
“I think Melo being in New York, coming to the Knicks is bad. I think the management is bad and I think they really don’t know what they are doing. I don’t like how they pick players, I don’t like how they respect their players, but I am a Knicks fan and I always have been a Knicks fan.”
DJ Envy also thinks the Knicks should do right by Melo:
“I think that Melo deserves to get his jersey retired.
“His jersey would never get retired.”
“He can help any team if you let him be himself,” Nate Robinson told Dallas Mavericks writer, Landon Buford.
“You have to let Melo be Melo and if you do that, he can definitely help any team in a starting role.”
“He is one of the best 300 players in the world that’s not playing,” TNT’s Kenny Smith told me in April.
“You can’t say he’s not one of the best 300 players.”
Fox Sports One’s Chris Broussard had a different take.
“Carmelo Anthony needs to retire,” the NBA Insider who doubles as a sports opinionist said on television.
“This is unbecoming to a first ballot Hall of Famer and I think that’s what he is. His first year in the league, he took a 17-win Nuggets team to the Playoffs in the West as a rookie. It took LeBron two years to get Cleveland into the Playoffs from 17 wins.”
According to NBA.com: LBJ is within striking distance of passing a pair of Hall of Famers in 2019-20: Gary Payton (whom he trails by 305 assists) and Isiah Thomas (400).
A three-time NBA Champion, James, who averaged 27.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists in 55 games for the Los Angeles Lakers this season will start at point guard next season.
While he’s been away from the game, he’s been spending a ton of time going to his son, Kiyan’s basketball games.
“He’s a great player,” New York Knick, Lance Thomas told me in December.
“He’s a great teammate, most importantly he’s a great human being and he’s always been a great advocate for the NBA as a brand. So I just want him to get back on a team and play the sport he loves that’s paved a way for him and his family, and he just loves to play basketball, so I really want him back on a team.”