Days before the start of the 2017-18 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder rocked the NBA world when they acquired Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks.
The surprising addition capped off an eventful offseason for the Thunder, who also traded for Paul George. OKC sought to build up a contender after Kevin Durant’s departure.
Alas, the trio of Russell Westbrook, George and Anthony sounded better on paper than in actuality. The Thunder struggled with consistency that season. They eventually lost to the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 2018 NBA playoffs.
The Thunder broke up the trio when Anthony was shipped to the Atlanta Hawks for Dennis Schroder. George signed an extension but proved to only stay in OKC for one more season.
In a podcast appearance with George, Anthony offered insights during his one-season stay with the Thunder. The future Hall-of-Famer noted he entered OKC without a defined role.
“I didn’t have no role in OKC, no role it was, ‘Melo you gon figure it out’ and I was like, ‘Nah I can’t figure (expletive) out,'” Anthony said. “What you want me to do? I’m taking darts and I’m the 4th (expletive) on the team. I still know what I can do, let’s keep this (expletive) going.”
Anthony later detailed that he was willing to come off the bench for his second season with the Thunder. This came after a year of controversy surrounding the topic.
Upon his arrival, he immediately dismissed the notion of the possibility. After a quick playoff exit, it appeared Anthony had a change of heart.
“I was ready to come off the bench the next season. We lost in the playoffs and they looked at us crazy,” Anthony said. “We get three years together who knows what happens.”
George added his thoughts. The multi-time All-Star also agreed that the Thunder pulled the plug too soon on that iteration of the squad.
“I thought the whole process was rushed, I was expecting that we were building something here,” George said. “We got a trio, we saw what it look like, now we got a full training camp next year. I just thought it was rushed and too soon. We were only one year in.”
It’s a shame the trio didn’t work out for the Thunder. They had one season together and they were underwhelmed. Considering the roster’s expensive price tag, OKC had to make a tough choice to move on from Anthony.
Years later, it’s always interesting to hear from the players’ side of stories — especially one like this where a megastar in Anthony described how he handled his decline.
