Carmelo Anthony’s storied NBA career spanned from 2003 to 2022.
In that time he had the opportunity to play for the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers.
Due to the sheer volume of teams he was on, Anthony was exposed to variety of different players.
This week, in a conversation with Sports Illustrated, Anthony revealed who his favorite teammate of all time was.
“I’ve had a lot of teammates, but my favorite, though, is J.R. [Smith],” Anthony said. “Coming into the game, I felt like for me, I may be one of two people who he could relate to, and I was myself and probably at the time [Allen Iverson]. I felt like I was that big brother to J.R. even though I was only a year and some change ahead of him.”
Anthony retired this month after a career that will undoubtedly earn him a place in the Hall of Fame.
Arguably the greatest pure scorer of his generation, Anthony is a 10-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA Team member and former league scoring champ. The one accolade that consistently eluded him was a championship.
Obviously Anthony would have loved to take home an NBA title at some point, but he is also fairly at peace with how things turned out.
“I’m at peace. That doesn’t bother me no more; that idea that you’re a loser if you don’t win a championship,” Anthony said in an interview with Chris Herring of SI. “For me, I’ve won. I won back in 2003, the night I shook David Stern’s hand on that [draft] stage. I made it out of Red Hook. I’ve won at life. The ring is the only thing I didn’t get. It would’ve been a great accomplishment, but I don’t regret it, because I feel like I did everything I could to get it.”
How will Anthony continue to make his mark on the sport of basketball now that he is retired? An answer one way or the other will emerge soon enough.
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