Earlier this week, NBA scoring legend and former New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony announced his retirement from the game of basketball via a video posted on his social media platforms. Though he's undoubtedly a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, throughout his career, the forward found himself as the subject of many polarizing conversations.

Now, even though his playing days are behind him, it still seems as though these types of discussions are following him, with the latest being whether or not his No. 7 jersey should be retired and hoisted into the rafters at Madison Square Garden.

Though recent rumblings suggest there are some within the organization who have given strong support to the idea, there are many fans and media pundits alike who have been adamant against seeing such a scenario take place.

To spice the conversation up a bit, we at ClutchPoints pinpoint 2 reasons why Carmelo Anthony's No. 7 jersey should not be retired by the Knicks organization.

Reason No. 2) A precedent has been set

Unlike the New York Yankees who are seemingly willing to retire even a ball boy's uniform, the Knicks only have a select few numbers hanging in the rafters at MSG. Outside of the great Bill Russell, whose No. 6 was retired by all NBA franchises after his unfortunate passing back in July of 2022, all of these individuals had storied careers in New York.

From Walt Frazier (No. 10) and Willis Reed (No. 19), who brought the franchise their only two NBA Championships back in 1970 and 1973, to Patrick Ewing (No. 33), who spearheaded the teams that went toe-to-toe virtually every season against Michael Jordan and the dynastic Chicago Bulls and who brought New York to the NBA Finals twice in the glory days of the 1990s, the legendary names hanging from the ceiling at the Garden are positively synonymous with Knicks lure.

Despite having played seven seasons with the organization from 2011 through 2017, before suiting up in orange and blue threads Carmelo Anthony was already established as one of the best players in the association. Even though he would go on to put up impressive individual averages with the club, while in New York he never seemed to advance and/ or improve his game and star status.

In fact, one could make a strong case that rather soon after his arrival, his tenure in the Big Apple saw more lows than highs due to injuries, questionable off-court ordeals with the front office (be it just or not with the whole Phil Jackson debacle), a decline in performance, etc.

Putting his name next to Dave DeBusschere's No. 22 (a five-time All-Star and two-time champions with the Knicks), Earl Monroe's No. 15 (two-time All-Star and a driving force for the club's 1973 championship), and Red Holzman's No. 613 (number represents his career wins as head coach of the team) could be seen as lowering the bar when it comes to receiving the honor of having a jersey retired by New York.

Call it an “old school mentality” all you want, but a precedent has already been set. When it comes to the resumes all these names in the rafters hold as members of the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony's simply doesn't seem to compare.

Reason No. 1) Lacking team success

As suggested already, it goes without saying that, from an individual standpoint, Carmelo Anthony was quite productive during his time spent with the Knicks. Through his seven seasons, he would go on to post impressive per-game averages of 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.2 assists while shooting 36.9% from the deep.

Carmelo would also find himself representing the franchise in six straight NBA All-Star games, was named to two All-NBA teams, and won a scoring title back in 2012-13.

However, even with his impressive accolades, the team as a whole saw very little overall success with him leading the charge.

During his time in New York, the club finished with a record above .500 on just three separate occasions, and only once did they have a win-loss differential greater than six games (in favor of wins).

With this, their postseason successes proved to be similarly underwhelming, as they only qualified during these three aforementioned years and won just one series along the way.

Of course, to blame Carmelo Anthony entirely for New York's shortcomings during his tenure would certainly be unfair. After all, basketball is a team sport.

That said, this lacking overall success should be taken into account when deciding on whether he should forever be in the same conversation as the rest of the franchise's elites who, along with their individual accolades, also helped guide the Knicks to great team accomplishments along the way.