Carmelo Anthony is not eligible for the Basketball Hall of Fame until 2026, but he is without a doubt a first-ballot selection. One of the greatest players to ever play the game, the only thing that eluded Anthony during his career is an NBA championship. During a recent episode of Dwyane Wade’s podcast, ‘The Why with Dwyane Wade,’ Wade spoke about the first time he ever saw Carmelo Anthony play basketball.
It was back when both Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony were in college during a tournament at Madison Square Garden. They did not matchup against each other, but Wade was left speechless by what he saw on the court.
“I’m sitting there and I’m watching his player I’ve heard about in high school that’s supposed to be nice, but I’m like kind of hating a little bit. I’m like let me see this,” Wade said. “You had like 30, you were getting to the money, it looked so easy. And I was sitting there like, damn, I ain’t never seen this up close and personal. You were doing it with a smile, you were doing it with a flair, you were just hooping. And I was like I think this is the best basketball player I’ve watched in my life with my own eyes.”
Wade mentioned how he was too young to watch players like Michael Jordan live, so in that sense Anthony was the best player he ever watched in person. He left that event thinking Anthony was for sure the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. But that honor would actually go to LeBron James.
Carmelo Anthony’s Hall of Fame career
While Anthony was never able to win an NBA championship, he is without a doubt one of the greatest basketball players to ever play as Wade called him. He led Syracuse to the program’s only NCAA title in school history.
He ended up being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets when the Detroit Pistons shocked everyone by selecting Darko Milicic.
Anthony’s resume includes being a ten-time NBA All-Star, two-time All NBA Second Team, four-time All-NBA Third Team, one-time NBA scoring champ, NBA All-Rookie Team, three Olympic gold medals and one Olympic bronze medal and being selected to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
Anthony’s NBA career spawned 19 seasons including stints with the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers in addition to the Nuggets. He holds career averages of 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals with shooting splits of 44.7 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from the three-point line and 81.4 percent from the free-throw line.
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