Getty Former New York Knicks player Carmelo Anthony waves to the fans in the first quarter against the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden.
Carmelo Anthony has been the talk of the NBA’s offseason.
He’s without a team.
Nostalgia has set in. A 15-year NBA veteran, will Melo be remembered as a member of the New York Knicks?
How about the Denver Nuggets?
“I say moreso New York,” Stephen A. Smith told Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club on Thursday.
“Denver he wanted out. He pushed himself out of that door. There’s absolutely nothing to hold against him in New York. He wanted to be here when nobody else wanted to come.”
A 10-time NBA All-Star, Anthony signed with the Houston Rockets last summer after clearing waivers in a trade that shipped him from the Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks.
After signing with the Rockets he was later traded to the Chicago Bulls before the NBA’s trading deadline.
What’s next?
In an interview with Taryn Finley of the Huffington Post, Melo suggested that he is at peace with the fact he may not play much longer. “I’m sure [retirement is] coming soon,” he said.
“I’d be sitting lying to you if I said it’s not coming soon. I think I want it to come soon. I don’t think I want to do this forever, but because you love it so much, it’s hard to give it up. At the end of the day, at anything you do, when it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. But as long as you feel good with that.”
While Carmelo Anthony has 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,” former 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.”
Now, the 35-year-old is waiting for the best deal to come around.
The Lakers do have one final roster spot and many believe that Carmelo Anthony still has some game left in the tank to compete against many of the NBA’s elite.
“His first year in the league, he took a 17-win Nuggets team to the playoffs in the West as a rookie,” said Fox Sports’ Chris Broussard.
“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.”
Melo to Brooklyn has legs.
The Nets have a potent roster with names like Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie complimenting Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
The Nets will likely be without Durant this season as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Shaquille O’Neal likes the new-look Nets because it gives New York something to talk about in hoops other than the New York Knicks.
“Jay-Z gave them a little steam when he said he was the owner,” Shaq told Scoop B Radio.
“He’s going to be there with KD so they should make a lot of noise. The only unfortunate part for the first time in New York history the Knicks aren’t the important team. That’s kind of funny to me.”