Charles Barkley Reveals Why Carmelo Anthony’s NBA Absence Is Suprising

Carmelo Anthony is still an NBA free agent.

November 8 marks one whole year since Melo played NBA basketball

Anthony, a 10-time NBA All Star played the first 10 games of last season with the Houston Rockets and was later dealt to the Chicago Bulls before the NBA trade deadline.

What’s next?

“I really don’t want to get into all that right now,” Carmelo Anthony told me Thursday while on the red carpet of an award show for the ALS Association Greater New York Chapter.

“But yeah I’m surprised. It is what it is at this point, I’m sitting back waiting spending time with my family and that’s all I can focus on right now.

When asked if he wants to play he replied, “2000 percent, make that the headline.”

Anthony has averaged 24 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3 assists in his career as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets.

Million Dollar Question: Why has no team signed Carmelo Anthony?

“I wish I can give you a legitimate answer to that,” NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst, Charles Barkley tells me.

 

“I have no idea why Carmelo is not in the NBA. I’m not gonna make up anything, but I’m surprised he’s not in the league. I thought someone would have picked him up by now, but I can’t give you a legitimate answer,to be honest with you.”

Taking a cursory look around the NBA teams that could utilize Anthony’s services now are the Philadelphia 76ers who are without Ben Simmons for a couple of more games and who still need a couple of more veteran leaders.

Other usual suspects? The Los Angeles Lakers.

In addition to needing a playmaker or two, LA needs a volume shooter; a role Carmelo Anthony could fill.

“You can’t tell me he’s not on the list of the top 400 players in the league right now,” Heavy’s Sean Deveney told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.

“I think that he’s gotten the scapegoat in the last couple of places where he’s been. Certainly Oklahoma City [Thunder] and definitely in Houston [Rockets]. Even to an extinct with the [New York] Knicks at the end because of that he has this sort of toxicity about him. There’s that it’s a risk to bring him in and we’ll end up paying that price if you’re the GM then you’re going to take a hit for it. When in reality while in Oklahoma City [Thunder] the 2 years they had him compared to last year. Were they even better last year? No they were pretty much the same team and the results were the same. So, you can say that he didn’t make them better but he definitely didn’t make them worse though. So, when you look at that and in Houston [Rockets]. You know he played 10 games there and then he gets waived. Eventually they figured things out but the 10 games they played after he was gone they weren’t any better either. So he took a hit for these teams when he really didn’t deserve it and now he sort of has that cloud over him and teams are just staying away it’s unfortunate because I do think the guy still has something to give and it’s worth a shot. Look has he ever got in trouble with the law those kinds of things. He’s never really been a locker room problem things like that a lot of this reputation stuff to me is unfounded.”

The Los Angeles Clippers are also in need of a role player to compliment Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The issue with the the Clippers? Like the their Staples Center co-tenants, the Clippers are looking to nab Andre Iguodala if/when he becomes available via a buyout with the Memphis Grizzlies.

But what if Iggy doesn’t get bought out or is traded? Names like Carmelo Anthony, Jamal Crawford and JR Smith have also been in Lakers discussion.

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