Blazers: Carmelo Anthony Suprises NYC Cancer Patient with Phone Call

Carmelo Anthony made headlines when it was announced that he’d sign a non-guaranteed contract to play for the Portland Trail Blazers.

The third overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Anthony told me recently that he had every intention on playing NBA basketball this season.

“2000 percent, make that the headline,” he told me.

“I’m sitting back waiting spending time with my family and that’s all I can focus on right now.”

Anthony hasn’t played NBA basketball since November 8, 2018 as a member of the Houston Rockets.

A 10-time NBA All-Star, 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 the Rockets.

Add another title under his name: an ambassador for good health. Anthony is beloved by many Knicks fans including Gianna Gregoire.

In October, Gregoire, sister of well respected Knicks super fan, Anthony Donahue, host of the 33rd & 7th Podcast and founder of The Orange and Blue Crew was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called Gioblastoma.

Over the weekend, Anthony phoned in with Gianna via FaceTime to chat with her before she begins a round of extensive chemotherapy.

“Stay stong, we’re fighting with you,” Anthony told her.

“We’re fighting with you don’t worry about that part.”

Carmelo Anthony could make his NBA season debut as early as Tuesday.

He released his reasoning for joing the Portland Trail Blazers via his YouTube channel.

“I always kept my eyes on Portland,” he said.

“It just didn’t work out at other times, but now it seems like a perfect opportunity. Me and Dame, we’ve been talking for the past couple years, just off and on, CJ has been playing in my Black Ops runs for the past four years. I just look at that opportunity, that team and say, look ‘this is what I can bring to the team, this is where I can help.’ It will only work if all parties see it the same way.”

Anthony also stated where his mindset is currently. “Mentally and emotionally I had detached myself from the game a little bit,” he said.

Just to give myself some sanity and not think about it. Once I got that call, the challenge was for me to flip that back mentally. There’s a big difference in training while you’re waiting, and training once you get the call and saying, ‘OK, we wanna do this.'”

Melo is excited to get started in Portland, where he will join Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and head coach Terry Stotts. “I just look at that opportunity, that team and say, look ‘this is what I can bring to the team, this is where I can help.'” he said.

“It will only work if all parties see it the same way.What happened before is the past, I can’t dwell on that, I learn from that. This happened at a point in time in my life where I do have a lot of clarity and understanding of different situations and just life, and my approach is totally different.”

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