Hall of Fame forward Tracy McGrady surprised many with a strong take on why former Denver Nuggets All-Star Carmelo Anthony should have won Rookie of the Year over LeBron James. Anthony landed a new gig for 2025-26 but is still the host of 7PM in Brooklyn, where McGrady was a guest, and reflected on 2003's head-to-head rookie battle between James and Anthony.
McGrady looked back on his opinion of James and Anthony amid their respective rookie campaigns, while James failed to reach the playoffs with the Cleveland Cavs, Anthony led the Nuggets to a playoff berth, per 7PM in Brooklyn.
“You knew Melo, Bron, and those dudes were gonna be tough. Honestly, I mean, no shade to anybody, but I thought he should have won Rookie of the Year because you took your team to the playoffs,” McGrady said. “That is a tremendous accomplishment for a rookie to come in, have that spotlight on him, like that, and to get slighted on Rookie of the Year, I ain't like that at all.”
McGrady saw the intensity in Anthony's approach as a rookie with the Nuggets, convincing himself that Carmelo would one day become an NBA star.
“I knew he was gonna be tough because right away, you seen the physicality on the offensive end,” McGrady added. “Typically, young guys come in and they try to ease their way. This m*********** was like a bruiser. You had to withstand that for 40 minutes of hell. I admired that young core of coming in and being who they were at that time because you talk about Kobe, AI, myself, and Vince, like now, we got some young energy coming in this m*********** that confident, aggressive, and got game.”
Tracy McGrady watched LeBron James win the 2003 Rookie of the Year award. LeBron would also lead the Cavs to his first NBA Finals appearance in 2007.
Why Carmelo Anthony wasn't surprised over Tom Thibodeau firing
Hall of Fame forward Carmelo Anthony discussed the Knicks firing Tom Thibodeau. He's adapted to his analyst role, which gave Anthony the platform to discuss why he believes the Knicks firing Thibodeau was inevitable.
“Everybody else thinks that that just happened overnight,” Anthony said. “That ain’t just happened overnight. That’s been a part of the conversation behind the scenes going on, observations, analyzing, really scouting Thibs. Whatever it is, he was under a microscope for a period of time. So it ain’t just happened.”
Former Kings coach Mike Brown was named the Knicks' new head coach.
