Carmelo Anthony passed Elvin Hayes on the NBA’s all-time scoring list during Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, and the Portland Trail Blazers star unsurprisingly was left humbled by such a remarkable career achievement.
Now in his 18th NBA season, the soon-to-be-37-year-old Anthony secured his spot in the top-10 with a four-point play during the second quarter of Portland’s 123-114 setback to Atlanta.
Anthony finished the game with 14 points, leaving the 10-time All-Star with a career 27,314 points.
After the game, Anthony opened up about how it felt to accomplish yet another impressive milestone in an outstanding NBA career.
“If you’re in the top 10 of anything of all time, it’s a special moment,” said Anthony, who’s in his 18th NBA season and turns 37 before the month is out, per NBA.com.
Anthony was fully aware of how many points he needed to surpass Hayes.
“I knew this moment,” he said. “I didn’t know those other moments — 15, 13, 11. But 10 is something I knew.”
“A couple of years ago, I didn’t think I was gonna be in this moment right now. I was out the league for whatever reason. I’m back. I persevered. I stayed strong, I stayed true to myself and now I’m here in the top 10.
”… I’m still enjoying the game,” Anthony added. “I’m still loving the game. I’m still approaching the game the same way.”
The third-overall pick out of Syracuse in the 2003 NBA Draft, Anthony followed his seven years with the Denver Nuggets with stints with the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets and has spent the past two seasons with the Blazers. Anthony also was a member of the 2008, 2012 and 2016 U.S. Olympic teams that won gold medals.
Anthony recently put the finishing touches on a memoir that chronicles his inspiring rise from housing projects in New York and Baltimore to international superstardom on the NBA and the Olympic stage. Titled, “Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised,” the book is set for a Sept. 14 release.
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