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Carmelo Anthony announces retirement from NBA

Alex Weberby: Alex Weber05/22/23Alexhweber

After a prolific 19-year career in the NBA, the legendary Carmelo Anthony has officially called it quits on the basketball court. Anthony was most recently a member of the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2021-2022 season, where he appeared in 69 games, but did not find a home at any point during this current season. Now, he’s officially retired from hoops.

Here was the video and message Anthony posted to his Twitter account announcing the news:

Carmelo Anthony ends his career one week from the day of his 39th birthday after first entering the league as a 19-year-old who had just led Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA National Championship under head coach Jim Boeheim, who also just retired from the game as well. Anthony’s farewell now leaves LeBron James as the last remaining player from the ’03 Draft and also the oldest active player in the NBA now that Anthony, Andre Iduodala and Udonis Haslem are all calling it quits at the end of this year.

Melo was a star from the day he stepped on a basketball court, coming out as one of the top players in his high school class before committing to the Orange, where, of course, he won the title. Though he never nabbed one at the pro level, Anthony will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the defining talents of his generation, especially when it came to scoring the basketball.

During his 10-year peak run, from 2005 to 2016, Carmelo averaged north of 26 points a game for a decade, even topping 28 a few times while leading the league with 28.7 points a night in 2013. His best days came with the Nuggets, where he was drafted, and then in New York where he arrived on the Knicks in 2011 and only saw his profile skyrocket after immediately enchanting fans in the Big Apple.

Towards the end of his career, Anthony found homes with longstanding playoff teams, like the late-2010’s Rockets, the Westbrook-Paul George Thunder and the Lillard-McCollum Trail Blazers. Lastly, as mentioned, he was a Laker alongside his Banana Boat pal and 2003 Draft partner LeBron.

A heck of a career for one of the century’s great wing scorers.