A lack of NBA Titles and unparalleled legacy in one city bids Syracuse Basketball alum Carmelo Anthony ineligible for a proper farewell tour.
Since joining the NBA at 19 years old in 2003, Carmelo Anthony’s 15-year pursuit of an NBA championship, split primarily between Denver and New York has dwindled to the point where his talents are no longer sought after by front offices around the association.
Anthony’s winning pedigree at the collegiate level with the Syracuse basketball squad (2003 NCAA Champion and Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player), and as a member of Team USA Basketball (All-time scoring leader, a gold medal winner in 2008, 2012, and 2016) speaks for itself.
What doesn’t, is his lack of consistent success across 11 trips and 72 career NBA playoff games. Aside from the 2009 Conference Finalist Denver Nuggets, an Anthony-led team playoff team played more than 10 games just once.
With more than 25,000 career points to his name on 45% shooting, the 2003-04 All-Rookie Team Member, 10x All-Star, 2012-13 Scoring Champ, six-time All-NBAer, and eventual Hall of Famer has done enough individually to be memorialized as one of the league’s best scorers ever.
However, what earns players farewell tours is a sustained success in April, May, and June over the course of their career, and for a select few, unparalleled longevity with one or many franchises, fulfilments Anthony remains without.
Only a handful of players each quarter-century are eligible for a proper farewell tour. We saw NBA champions Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki earn and say their goodbye’s to the NBA this past season with tours that enlivened otherwise mediocre, playoff-less campaigns for Miami and Dallas.
Kobe Bryant shed light in 2016 with his tour during an otherwise forgetful 17-win season in Los Angeles, and Steph Curry will have the same honor when his career comes to a close, regardless of his teams’ position at that point.
While all four of these players spent if not most, all of their years with one organization, Anthony’s ineligibility for a farewell tour isn’t due to his lack of longevity with a single organization, rather his lack of ultimate accomplishment with any organization. Take LeBron James, who alongside Anthony entered the NBA in 2003. The generational talent has won with multiple franchises, is entering his second season with a third career team, and has earned the right to decide when he will get a proper farewell tour.
Despite encouragement from Damian Lillard and Anthony’s trainer Chris Brickley, the forward isn’t being given the ‘free-ride’ opportunity to properly say goodbye to the game of basketball after playing just 10 games last season and being traded and waived in January.
Considering Denver’s depth and desire to go the distance in 2020, and Anthony’s rigid relationship with a rebuilding New York Knicks team, the likelihood of the forward spending his final chapter in the NBA with either of the two teams is unlikely, further decreasing the chances of him getting a proper goodbye.
The once-coveted scorer around the league has been all but abandoned by NBA front offices, further proving that not all stars decide when their time is up, rather those around them get the final say.