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Carmelo Anthony obviously wasn’t playing in the Olympics this year with Team USA, but he was in Paris watching, and he was a big topic of discussion. Anthony is no stranger to the Olympics as he has won three gold medals with Team USA, but a recent comment he made on the value of a gold medal was met with disagreement by Stephen A. Smith.
While playing in the NBA, Carmelo Anthony never won a championship. However, he has those three gold medals, and he recently said that he wouldn't trade those medals for an NBA ring. Stephen A. Smith thought the take was absurd.
“First of all lets shove aside the fact that Team USA is usually the favorites in basketball, so you surviving and ultimately winning gold medals, it’s not that you need to be discredited for that, that is an accomplishment, I’m not taking anything away from the fact that he and LeBron James each have three gold medals,” Smith said during an episode of First Take. “But to sit up there and say that it’s more valuable than an NBA Championship, respectfully, oh my God, respectfully, how would you know? Because you never had an NBA Championship, you never even played in an NBA Finals, so you don’t have that perspective.”
Smith is right about that last part. Obviously, it's up to the person whether or not they feel like one is more valuable than the other, but Anthony does not know what it is like to win an NBA championship.
Carmelo Anthony's original comments
Carmelo Anthony recently talked with BasketNews, and that is where his comment originated from.
“I’ve never been asked that question. No,” Anthony said when he was asked if he would trade his medals for a ring. “When we talk about global sport, a medal means something totally different than an NBA championship. They both have their own separate meanings, but winning a gold medal? It’s the passion, it’s the pride that you have, not just for a city or a state, for a whole nation, for a whole country you’re winning for.”
Anthony can compare what it is like to play in the NBA compared to playing for Team USA in the Olympics. He feels like there is more pride wearing the USA jersey than there is when you're wearing an NBA jersey.
“It’s a different level of, I would say, pride that you have to have when you’re wearing USA across your chest, or you’re wearing Lithuania across your chest,” Anthony said. “It’s a totally different feeling than Knicks, New York across your chest.”
Carmelo Anthony has never won an NBA title, but he clearly cherishes his Olympics medals greatly, as he should. There has been a lot of talk this week about whether or not people really believe Anthony when he answered no to that question. Who knows, but Anthony certainly has reason to be proud of the career that he had both in the NBA and at the Olympics with Team USA.
