Carmelo Anthony’s worst nightmare is coming true. ✅ Check out PrizePicks: https://bit.ly/PrizePicksMJ2K Promo Code: MJ2K

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His Freshman year at Syracuse University, he won the NCAA championship alongside winning NCAA’s Most Outstanding Player award. He was drafted by the Nuggets as the 3rd overall pick in 2003 behind this guy, and this Hall of Fame Random. He was in one of the most legendary draft classes featuring Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. He won rookie of the month every month, averaging 21 points and 6 boards.

Man’s ranked in the top 10 in scoring for 9 straight seasons, from 2005-2014, including the 2006-2007 seasons where he finished 2nd in scoring behind Kobe.

He’s been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team member six times. He became the face of the Nuggets franchise. Standing at 6’8, he was too tall, too strong for the average small forward to guard, and yet he was too quick for a bigger defender which made him the perfect hybrid forward.

His numbers may not stand out to people now, a 25 point per game average over 13 seasons on 45% from the field, especially now where everyone seems to be averaging 30… Sorry Melo

Eventually the dust settled, and MELO WAS ON THE KNICKSS BABYYY! We came up.And Carmelo was easily one of the best players in the NBA. In 2013, he finished third in MVP voting, got the only first place vote besides LeBron, ohhhh he took unanimous MVP away from LeBron? Remember when Melo dropped 41 against the Heat in Game 4 in 2012 just to not get swept…**yeah good times.**

The Knicks since the 2000’s were irrelevant, But they made some big moves and with Melo, we were finally relevant. Melo was in his prime and in 2013, put together one of the best seasons of his career while leading the Knicks to a 54-28 record with Stoudemire, Chandler, J.R. and Shumpert. He won the scoring title that year averaging 28.7 points shooting a crazy high 38% from 3 for the time.

Up until the Knicks, there were numerous times where Melo favored money over winning. We all know about the Big 3 in Miami with Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. Well that should’ve never happened. It was originally supposed to be Lebron, Wade, and Melo. But in 2006, Melo didn’t wanna leave money on the table. Then that summer, Wade and Lebron signed their 3 year deals with a player option, while Melo maxed out his money with a full 5 year deal with no opt out. Cause of his no opt out clause, Melo wasn’t a free agent during the summer of 2010 and couldn’t fulfill the original idea for the Big Three. In 2015, Melo could’ve joined the Bulls with D Rose, but to do that he needed to take a pay cut up to $10 million. Or he could’ve taken a max 4 year deal with Houston making them a top 1 tier team in the league. But he passed up on both of those to take the Knicks’ cool $120 million deal.

He signed a veterans minimum with the Rockets and was with his former coach in Mike D’ Antoni and now he’s reunited with his banana boat brother. Carmelo’s not expected to be a star. He’s 34 years old in his 16th season, still good, but not as the main guy. Harden and CP3 playmaker a lot for othe—- He only played 10 games. What? They ruled him out with some unspecified “illness” and decided to “part ways with him” they didn’t release him. He even bought into the all three offense, not taking 2s…What the f**? But remember, Melo and D’Antoni didn’t have the greatest of relationships back in New York. So reuniting with him in Houston wasn’t the best idea.

Rockets traded Melo to the Bulls but they waived him and for 10 whole months, he did not get picked up by any team in the league. At this point, Carmelo was a 1st ballot hall of famer, but somehow was out of the league. Former players were shocked.

Fans, analysts, media members all had different theories. Some said it was his underwhelming body of work in the past few seasons, but that doesn’t make any sense. One bad Thunder season with a dysfunctional Billy Donovan Russ combo and 10 games on the Rockets can’t be enough right? It felt like Carmelo was all of a sudden black listed from the NBA.

Although Melo never had the accolade of a championship ring or an MVP, He changed the culture of franchises he’s played for. Knicks fans will always and forever remember “Melo” and his triple threat signature has been widely adapted and used by so many players in the current NBA. *Even now Melo deserves to be on a team.* Like he said, he’s still going in the gym and is always keeping his body NBA ready cause he still feels like he ain’t finished and he has more to give to the game.

So why is Carmelo not on any NBA team right now? No answer, no reason really. No team reached out. There were rumors of the Knicks.