By Andrew Rovit ‘22, Sports Writer

It is unusual for a ten-time NBA All-Star to be struggling to find a team to play on. Unfortunately, for former Houston Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony, this is his predicament. The 34-year-old is an American basketball phenom who has shuffled between four teams in the past two years. Considering that this three-time gold medalist has had an admirable career playing for the Denver Nuggets and most famously on the New York Knicks, why would no team want to sign him? To find the answer to this question, we must look back at his legacy to determine where it all went wrong.

Anthony played college basketball at Syracuse University averaging about 22.2 PPG (points per game), which prompted him to be selected 3rd overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets. He had a lengthy career in Denver, playing for eight seasons and averaging around 23 PPG per season. He was enjoying his career in Denver, but unfortunately, he was traded during the 2011 season to the New York Knicks, where he played for another seven seasons. He was the center of the struggling team, often shooting 22 shots per game. After the 2017 season, he demanded a trade following a large argument with team president and former NBA coach, Phil Jackson. Shortly after, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder to play along with NBA all-stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Put simply, the trio did not mesh well. As a result, after one season he was once again traded to the Atlanta Hawks, but then promptly released. A couple of weeks later, he was signed by the Houston Rockets on a one year contract. Once again, the Rockets felt like Anthony did not fit on the team, so he was most recently traded to the Chicago Bulls, but was again released.

During Anthony’s time with the Nuggets and the Knicks, he was thought to be a top 15 player in the NBA. Now, everything is pointing to the possibility that this might be the end of his career, but there is some promise still remaining. Many NBA insiders have been hearing that the Los Angeles Lakers may be interested in signing him if a roster spot opens. That means if someone on their team gets injured then they could possibly sign him. But for now, the Lakers seem like the only team interested in acquiring him due to his declining performance and the minor character issues he displayed in the past few seasons. NBA experts are split on the debate regarding whether or not he could help any team right now, but the majority think that his NBA career is over. However, Stephen Levitt ‘22 disagreed, expressing his opinion that “Eventually, Carmelo Anthony will find a team to contribute on.” Time will tell if and when a team will call Anthony and give him another shot to compete in the NBA.