“It was one of those nights,” Carmelo Anthony says of being honored during Wednesday night’s ESPY Awards. “I didn’t know this was happening…. We took that stage seven years ago to this month [to open the 2016 ESPYs with a spotlight on gun violence, racial injustice, and police brutality], and now we are back on a different standpoint. I wasn’t expecting it. So, I have gratitude to my friends for showing up and the people in the seats that were standing and clapping too.”
The tribute, presented by friends and peers Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and LeBron James, came just seven weeks after Anthony’s official retirement following a professional basketball career that spanned nearly two decades. “CP and Bron are still in the league, they’re still in it. So, D and I have more conversations if anything,” Anthony says. “The night is still young when it comes to me being on this side. Right now, I want it to play out.”
Drafted by the Denver Nuggets as part of the legendary 2003 class, that included Wade and James, Anthony’s years with the team and then the New York Knicks were flooded with highlight reel-worthy moves and high-volume scoring. He was a classical ball player in his offensive fundamentals, and a key player in a new wave of phenoms that helped continue the NBA’s reputation as the pro sports league platform most intertwined with Black America.
By Jordan Fisher.
In his later career, Anthony carved out a role as an affable, veteran presence in stints with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers. But pro sports careers are nothing if not finite and, on May 22, Anthony announced his retirement from the NBA. The decision wasn’t made on a whim, or out of necessity. Anthony stood on his two feet, as he was taught growing up in Baltimore, and had conversations with his family about what his next move was going to be. “I had to make sure I was at peace with my decision. It took a minute. But I got to the point where this is what it was going to be after 20 years,” Anthony says. “Not too many people can say they were at the top for 20 years in anything.”
Still, Anthony, or “Melo,” as he is known to anyone with a passing basketball fluency, was always prideful. Winning the scoring title and being a three-time Olympic gold medalist will do that to you. It took him years after his peak to want to finally walk away from the game that changed his life forever. “It took me until I went to Portland to start thinking about retirement and if I was ready at that time, and in the future,” he says.
As it happened, the day that Anthony retired, the Denver Nuggets advanced to the NBA Finals after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers. Anthony spent eight seasons with the team before being traded to the New York Knicks. When he arrived in Denver, the Nuggets were on a downward trend. It was Anthony who made them playoff contenders and revived basketball in the Rockies. Although his own Denver teams never won a championship, Anthony says that watching the Nuggets triumph in the Finals this year was special. “I was a part of where it started at,” he says. “The team colors changed. We came up with a fresh energy back in 2003. Alongside having great players over there, I think we started a culture…I’m standing on that. I did what I had to do from ‘03 to 2010. The city started to build with us. To see Denver now, 20 years later—it puts validation to what we did.”
Carmelo Anthony #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on March 16, 2022 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.By David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images.
While playing in New York, Anthony got to be the main event in the city where he was born. The highs are the stuff of legend: He won the scoring title, set the record for most points at the Garden with 62, and led the Knicks to 54 wins in the 2012–2013 season. When asked about his favorite game from his time as a Knick, he mentions his first with the team but maintains that every one was a treat. “I got to play in the Garden. Go out there on Seventh Avenue and rock out. That’s what being in New York was supposed to be,” he says. “Being at the Garden for the playoffs was a different type of energy. It’s different. We created our own energy in New York. The fans wanted to be a part of it. That’s why we created the Knickstape energy. We were tapping into that.”
Jayson Buford
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