As Carmelo Anthony becomes enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame, he has time to look back on his career.
A career filled with successes, setbacks, and surreal moments. Possibly the most surreal was denying the chance to play with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
In 2006, Anthony signed a five-year contract extension with the Denver Nuggets. But he had a chance to declare free agency. As a result, he could have been on the market and possibly landed in Miami to play with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade.
In the process, they could have been the “Fantastic Four” with Chris Bosh there. However, a few particulars stood in the way of that.
Anthony had given his commitment to the Nuggets. He didn't have an opt-out option in his contract in 2010. Also, he didn't want to be the “fourth option,” as he said to Paul George on “Podcast P” last July.
“Imagine me at 23 years old, 24 years old, being the fourth option on the team when I'm leading my team every single year,” he told George. “Like, I'm finding my way in this league. And you want me to leave that and go be a fourth option? I don't know how mentally I was going to do that.”
Essentially, he was leading in all categories with the Nuggets and didn't want to relinquish that.
“So I was like, ‘Hell, no,” he said. “I can't be that fourth.'”
The mutual journey of Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, and Dwayne Wade
In 2003, Anthony was drafted by the Denver Nuggets after leading Syracuse to a National Championship. That same year, LeBron was in his first NBA season straight out of high school.
Also Wade was drafted by the Heat coming out of Marquette. They essentially grew up in the league together.
Their first time being together on the same was during the underperforming Athens Olympics in 2004 in which the U.S. took home the bronze medal.
Four years later, they along with Kobe Bryant revitalized the U.S. team and won the gold medal in Beijing as part of the Redeem Team.
Along the way, the cultivated a strong brotherhood based on mutual respect. There are plenty of what-ifs in sports especially when talking about great players and how they could have become greater.
This is certainly one of those what-ifs.
