The 2003 NBADraft will remainone for the ages. Carmelo Anthony belonged to that class with the likes ofLeBron James,Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade.18 years later, he and LeBron are still active in the league.
In fact, they’ve joined forces for the upcoming 2021-2022 season aiming to get the Los Angeles Lakers back to glory days. Melo has yetto win a ring, and now he hopes to finally do so, no matter if it’s froma bench role with the purple and gold.
Regardlesshe ends up winning the championship or not, Anthony has endured a career to remember. It all began when the Denver Nuggets drafted him with the third-overall pick in 2003, but according to Melo, it could have been a different story that year if the Detroit Pistons had kepttheir word.
‘We taking you’: Carmelo Anthony reveals Pistons promised to draft him
While the 2003 draft will be remembered for presenting LeBron, Melo, Bosh, and Wade, it has also seen one of the biggest flops as the Detroit Pistons selected Darko Milicic with the second pick. According to Anthony, he was promised to be getting that selection.
In an interview with All The Smoke‘s Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Carmelo Anthony has opened up on the draft and how he was convincedthe Pistons would take him:“To this day I still think about that, because they promised me: ‘We taking you’, all the way up ’til draft day.”
Shockingly, Melosaw how they chose Milicic overhim, which didn’t seem to be a wise decision by Detroit. The Serbian has barely seen actionin his first season, when the team won the title, and went on to have a modest 10-year career in the league playing for six different teams.
But the Pistons did have successful years, winning one ring, reaching two NBA finals, and six straight Conference finals. Carmelo Anthony hasstated, however, they would have won another championship with him. Either way, he has taken a different path that led him to a long-awaited meeting with LeBron to chase the ultimate prize.