After nearly a year since setting foot on an NBA court, Carmelo Anthony went on camera for the first time since his 10th game with the Houston Rockets, explaining the fallout that ensued in Clutch City during an appearance on ESPN's “First Take” Friday:
“I'm here to help the team, let me know what I gotta do. But he came in and said, ‘Look, your services are no longer needed,' and I'm like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?'” said Anthony. “He's like, ‘Nah, things are just not working out and you gotta figure out what you gotta figure out, something to do.' I'm like, ‘How am I gonna figure out something to do? I got a game tomorrow.' He's like, ‘Nah, you're not gonna suit up tomorrow.'
“So then I started taking it even deeper, he was talking about how I wasn't gonna make the rotation. I'm like, ‘You're trying to tell me I can't make a nine-man rotation, that's what you're trying to tell me?' I've already started to accept the fact that I gotta come off the bench, which is very hard for me — I accepted that and I've moved on from that. Now you're telling me that I can't make a nine-, 10-man rotation on this team. It's deeper than basketball.”
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Melo maintained that the reason why the Rockets let him go went beyond on-court reasons:
“This is deeper than basketball, I was on a 10-game trial period,” said Anthony. “That's not something that just happened, this something that's been talked over these first 10 games of the season.”
Stephen A. Smith then asked Melo if James Harden and Chris Paul were aware of how the Rockets planned to handle his arrival. Both players said they were unaware of it.
Pressed further on whether Harden wanted him on the team or not, Anthony wouldn't jump to conclusions, saying he had a heart-to-heart conversation with Paul afterward:
“I had a one-on-one, heart-to-heart with CP in my room at 1 o'clock in the morning,” said Anthony. “Looked him in the eye, he looked me in my eye and told me, ‘I would never do something like that to you.' I take that.”
It seems Anthony's divorce with the Rockets had a lot more than simply a lack of fit with the system, but actual politics could have played into it. Houston got off to a 4-6 start to the season, and many have argued that Melo became the scapegoat for a team that saw an abysmal drop-off from the rousing 65-win season they trotted out in 2017-18.
It's unclear if Anthony's version of this public breakup is accurate, but many in the Rockets' locker room were awfully quiet after it took place. This means there was likely some fire underneath all that smoke.
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