This past off-season, we saw Carmelo Anthony exit his six-year, roller coaster tenure with the New York Knicks when he was shipped to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott. Journeyman Michael Beasley, who has also taken a crazy ride in the pros, became his replacement for the 2017-18 NBA season.

With Anthony being a future Hall-of-Famer and Beasley having an underwhelming NBA career — at least based on the standards given to a former second overall pick — an obvious assumption was made: the Thunder will be strong contenders and the Knicks will remain as the laughing stock in the league.

Both assumptions became far from what had really turned out.

Carmelo Anthony
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Reddit user watchingyoupee had a stat that may summarize it nicely, as he pointed out that the Beasley has three 30-point games this season while Anthony still has none.

Also, Anthony’s possession-stopping, isolation-heavy style of play was a key hindrance to the team early in the season. A career scoring machine who made a living through perimeter shooting, he was eventually forced to take a backseat from co-superstar teammates Russell Westbrook and Paul George. As the third option in OKC, he's averaging career-lows 17.1 points per game on 41.2-percent field goal shooting, which may have led to snapping his eight-straight years of being an All-Star. Furthermore, the fifth-seeded Thunder are only looking like a second-round playoff team at best.

michael beasley
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Beasley, meanwhile — though the Knicks are still at the bottom of the East — has risen to become a crowd favorite at the Madison Square Garden. His quick-scoring offense, which have him averaging 22.4 points per 36 minutes since this season, was a quick way to endear himself to the Knicks faithful. The team's room for improvement is still huge, but it has a hint of encouragement, thanks to Beasley, Kristaps Porzingis, and all their developing young guns.