Ten-time All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony announced Monday that he will retire from the NBA. Anthony will end his career without an NBA title.
Anthony was criticized during his professional career for never winning a title, and his name became so ubiquitous with needing a ring that it was even referenced in a Frank Ocean song.
Now officially retired, he will join the likes of Charles Barkley and Elgin Baylor as one of the best players in NBA history to never win a title. But just because Anthony will retire without a championship ring doesn’t mean he’s not a champion.
The 2013 NBA scoring champion won an NCAA championship in 2003. He was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player during the NCAA men’s tournament. He also won three gold medals at the Olympics.
Carmelo Anthony officially announces his retirement from basketball
– 30,203 points
– 8,365 rebounds
– 10x All-Star
– 6x All-NBA
– Scoring Champ
– NBA's 75th Anniversary team
– NCAA Champion
– 3x Olympic gold-medalistLegend. ⭐️
(via @carmeloanthony)pic.twitter.com/61tMWOnLL7
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) May 22, 2023
Back in 2016, Anthony told Marc Stein that he could reflect on those championships and know he had a great career (via ESPN):
“Most athletes don’t have an opportunity to say that they won a gold medal, better yet three gold medals,” Anthony said. “I would be very happy walking away from the game knowing that I’ve given the game everything I have, knowing I played on a high level at every level: high school, college, won [a championship at Syracuse] in college and possibly three gold medals.
“I can look back on it when my career is over — if I don’t have an NBA championship ring — and say I had a great career.”
Then, in 2021, Anthony said that he was nearly at peace with the idea of retiring without an NBA championship.
But when he signed with the Lakers to play alongside LeBron James, he told Trevor Noah that everything changed (via Silver Screen and Roll):
“If I hadn’t picked L.A., I would have been at peace walking away from the game, knowing that I gave everything I could and I still couldn’t win a championship. I would have been at peace with that. I would have been good.”
The championship never came, unfortunately. But had he also won an NBA title as well, Anthony would have become one of just eight men’s basketball players to ever accomplish as much.
This is such a rarified achievement that when Anthony Davis won the title in 2020, he actually became the first NBA player to reach that milestone since Magic Johnson in 1992.
Anthony finished his career with 677 wins, more than all but four active players. He never got to call himself an NBA champion, but he undoubtedly had one of the winningest careers in basketball history.
Hopefully, that can bring him the peace he needs in his retirement.
