Carmelo Anthony on why he chose Knicks over Bulls

Carmelo Anthony was one of the hottest free agents in the NBA in 2014.

A number of prominent teams were interested in his services, including the Chicago Bulls.

Many believed that Anthony was ultimately the missing piece from what could have proven to be a championship squad in Chicago.

Instead of joining the Bulls, Anthony opted to return to the New York Knicks.

On the heels of his retirement from the sport of basketball, Anthony looked back on the decision that ultimately resulted in him never really coming close to winning a championship in the NBA.

“I was going to Chicago. Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah. I was there, right? I was there,” Anthony said, per Forbes.

“And then I started getting whispers behind the scenes. ‘Yo, look, this person ain’t gonna be there. It ain’t really right. This and that.’ And it was all of that started to come up in the midst of my decision-making. I wasn’t going to let anything cloud that.”

Anthony spent nearly two decades in the NBA. During that time he found himself on 10 All-Star teams and six All-NBA first-teams. He also won three gold medals and one bronze for the United States in the Olympics.

Upon his retirement this week, Anthony finishes ranked ninth in NBA history when it comes to total points scored.

Obviously, Anthony had his fair share of issues. Between his messy divorce from La La Anthony, the women who have called him out, and his troubling texts controversy, it was one problem after another for a while.

But none of those things rise to the level where they would cloud his NBA legacy.

Anthony will go down as one of the greatest scorers in league history. It is just a shame he never got a real opportunity to contend for an NBA title with the Bulls, because that team would have been hard to stop.