Carmelo Anthony doesn’t like the state of college athletes. In fact, the Oklahoma City forward is so exasperated, he would like to have a sit down with NCAA officials and hear exactly what is on their mind.
“I would love to sit down with the NCAA and just hear their thought process, hear what they’re thinking, hear what’s their future,” Anthony told ClutchPoints. “I am all for the athletes. I think we have to future out something for college as a whole.”
Anthony, who played one year at Syracuse, didn’t hold back when he was asked about the controversy currently surrounding the NCAA. When it turned to the ongoing debate on whether athletes should be paid, he had plenty to say.
“It’s easy for me to say that I think the players should get paid, yes. How they get paid, I think that’s something to be figured out,” Anthony said. “I think it will only get figured out if the NCAA wants it to get figured out. If they don’t want it figured out, then it won’t get figured out. Then you’re going to continue having these issues, having these problems. College basketball will go down. Guys are not going to go to college. Then it’s going to force the NBA to step up and kind of take the age limit off.”
Anthony admits he doesn’t have the answers how to pay athletes. He just knows the current system and the rules are not fair for the young men and women who are making billions for the NCAA.
“College athletes period need to be compensated,” Anthony said. “You have to think about a 16-year old kid, a 17-year old kid going to college. Yeah, they get a free education if they get a scholarship. But how are they surviving on those campuses? A lot of them can't afford food. They get in trouble for taking $10, $20. So many small things go along with that.”
Anthony, who has never shied from offering his opinion on the most heated topics, believes the NCAA is heading for a doomsday if they can’t come up with a system that is fair for everyone involved.
“I would tell my son to go to college,” Anthony said. “But, with that being said, you’re going to start seeing a lot more players looking at the opportunity to go play overseas. You’re going to start seeing guys maybe forgoing their senior year of high school and start trying to get to the G-League. You are going to start seeing these different leagues throughout the world become more powerful because of what the NCAA is doing.”
Yet, Anthony does seem to see a small light at the end of the tunnel and thinks the problems can be worked out.
“It has to be a collective effort between the NCAA, the NBA, just basketball as a whole,” Anthony said. “The NCAA and amateur sports have been corrupt for so long. We all know that. Whether you get caught doing it or not, it is what it is. I don’t have the answers’ Obviously, no one has the answers right now. But something has to be done.”
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