Carmelo Anthony retires from NBA after 19-year career

Up until the final days of the Knicks’ season, even as Carmelo Anthony had spent this year focused more on his growing wine business than on his midrange game, there was always a rumor, a whisper that Anthony would come home to New York again.

Anthony, who was born in Brooklyn, finally put an official end to all of that talk Monday. He announced his retirement, putting a farewell on a career that, from his days at Oak Hill Academy through a national championship at Syracuse University and on through Denver and New York before a vagabond ending, almost certainly will land him in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I remember the days when I had nothing, just a ball on the court and a dream with something more,” Anthony said in a video he released. “But basketball was my outlet. My purpose was strong. My communities, the cities I represented with pride, and the fans that supported me along the way.

“I am forever grateful for those people and places because they made me, Carmelo Anthony.

“But now the time has come for me to say goodbye: to the court where I made my name, to the game that gave me purpose and pride. But this bittersweet goodbye to the NBA, I am excited for what the future holds for me. When people ask what I believe my legacy is, it’s not my feats on the court that comes to mind, nor the awards or praise, because my story has always been more than basketball.”

Anthony entered the NBA as a friend and a competitor with LeBron James and spent much of his career in his shadow.  He put up historic numbers offensively but never got a championship ring after winning a title at Syracuse in his only college season. He departs as the ninth-leading scorer in NBA history with 28,289 points. He ends his playing days after being selected as one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history, a 10-time All-Star, a past scoring champion and a six-time All-NBA selection.

He also was a standout on the international basketball stage, helping USA Basketball win Olympic gold three times — at Beijing in 2008, at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Anthony played in 31 games in four appearances at the Olympics, the most of any U.S. men’s player. Anthony’s 37 points against Nigeria in the 2012 Games is a USA Basketball men’s record at an Olympics, as are his 10 three-pointers from that game and his 13-for-13 effort from the foul line against Argentina in 2008.

“Carmelo Anthony is one of the NBA’s all-time great players and ambassadors,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “We congratulate him on a remarkable 19-year career and look forward to seeing him in the Hall of Fame.”

What Anthony may most be remembered for was this: In a time when few stars wanted the spotlight — and pressure — of being the star at Madison Square Garden, he forced a trade to the Knicks from the Nuggets in 2011.

He spent the final months of that season and the next six full seasons in New York, averaging 24.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He finished third in the MVP balloting in the 2012-13 season, when he carried the team to the Eastern Conference semifinals, and then put up 62 points in a game the next season to set a franchise record for one game.

But his time in New York also was marked by controversy. He was signed to a contract extension with a no-trade clause by team president Phil Jackson and then Jackson tried to force him to allow a deal, creating a very public back-and-forth battle until Jackson was fired and the front office that followed got Anthony to agree to a move to Oklahoma City.

When the Knicks opened the season in OKC shortly afterward, Anthony spoke about his departure.

“It was more hurtful than being upset because I know the business,” he said. “I know how the game goes and it happens. But it was more hurtful because of the message that was being put out there, the perception that was being perceived by the fans more so than anything. So I had to kind of fall back and take myself away from all that, go ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and let it unravel, let the layers be peeled back so the fans and the people could really understand kind of what was going on.

“Because I would never speak on it. I never spoke on it. So I wanted the people to understand what was going on. So when they finally got the information, they finally started seeing it all unfold, then I guess they changed their perception.”

Anthony, in his farewell message Monday, shifted the message from his ending to the next phase for his family, putting the ball in the hands of his 16-year-old son Kiyan, who recently transferred from Christ the King High School to Long Island Lutheran and already has begun getting college scholarship offers.

“My legacy, my son, it’s in you,” Anthony said. “I will forever continue through you. Because the time has come for you to carry this torch. So Ky, chase your dreams, let nothing hold you back, let nothing intervene, my legacy, now and forever lives on through you.”

 With The Associated Press

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.