Carmelo Anthony may be an NBA superstar, but he's arguably an even more renowned international player. The only player to ever win three Olympic gold medals in men's basketball, Melo has decided to end his Olympic career with Sunday's gold medal win in Rio.
Although Anthony had previously stated he wasn't sure about competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he changed his mind following Team USA‘s 96-66 rout of Serbia in the the Rio finals.
During a postgame interview on NBC, the Knicks forward made it clear:
“I know this is the end. This is it for me.”
Throughout the offseason, including leading up to these Olympics in Rio, Anthony had been very outspoken about the societal issues, specifically racial tensions throughout the country. He commented on that topic in his post-game interview as well:
“In spite of everything that's going on right now in our country, we've gotta be united.”
Two-time reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry, who was one of many NBA players to congratulate Team USA on the Rio gold, shared his support for that statement from Melo on Twitter.
As the only American to play in four Olympic Games, dating back to 2004 and every event since then, Anthony has been able to accumulate the most points in United States' Olympic history. He passed Michael Jordan on that list earlier in the Rio games.
Adieu to Carmelo Anthony, an American Olympic legend.