Carmelo Anthony, one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, officially announced his retirement from the league on Monday.
He played 19 seasons in the NBA—notably with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks—and made 10 All-Star teams, six All-NBA First Teams, and won three Olympic gold and bronze medals. Anthony also made it to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team and ranks ninth all-time in points scored.
Anthony’s legendary college basketball career began when he won the NCAA National Championship during his freshman year at Syracuse in 2003. The Nuggets drafted Anthony third overall and he immediately burst onto the NBA scene, scoring 21 points per game in his rookie year. Anthony lost the Rookie of the Year battle to LeBron James that year.
Anthony has led the Nuggets to the playoffs every season he played in Denver from 2003-2010. He averaged 24.8 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game over those seven seasons with four All-Star nods. Denver reached the Western Conference Finals in 2009 behind Anthony’s 27.2 points per game but fell to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.
A rift reportedly developed between Anthony and the Nuggets during the 2010-11 season after Denver lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Utah Jazz the previous season. Anthony reportedly requested the trade after he refused to sign a contract extension. Denver eventually obliged and traded Anthony to his hometown Knicks — Anthony was born in Brooklyn before moving to Baltimore when he was 8 years old — in a massive three-team, 13-player trade that included the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Knicks sent Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov, one future first-round pick, two future second-round picks and cash to the Nuggets as well as Eddie Curry, Anthony Randolph and cash to the Timberwolves. New York acquired Anthony and Chauncey Billups, Reinaldo Blackviolin and Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter from Denver and Corey Brewer from Minnesota.
During his time in New York, Anthony made seven All-Star teams and averaged 24.7 points per game. The Knicks made the playoffs the first three years of Anthony’s tenure, but only won one playoff series. He eventually requested a trade during the 2017 offseason after disagreements with then team president Phil Jackson. The Knicks traded Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott and a 2018 second round pick.
The next five years of Anthony’s career included stints on four different teams. He only spent one season with the Thunder before he was traded to the Houston Rockets. Two years later, Anthony was traded to the Chicago Bulls but was waived and signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. After two years in Portland, Anthony signed with the Los Angeles Lakers to join LeBron James in 2021. He passed Moses Malone as the ninth leading scorer in the league and became the ninth player to score 28,000 career points.
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