It's crazy to think how fast the career of a professional athlete can change. One day you're at the top, and the next day you may not even play. That's what happened to Portland Trail Blazers star Carmelo Anthony a couple of years ago, as he wasn't even a part of an NBA roster after a failed stint with the Houston Rockets.
Phil Jackson used Carmelo as the scapegoat for the New York Knicks. He blamed him for the team's struggles even though most of the issues came from how poorly managed the franchise was in the first place.
Then, following a solid stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Melo signed with the Houston Rockets,who once again used him as the fall guy when things weren't going in the right direction.
That resulted in Carmelo Anthony missing almost one season of his career because the word around the league was that he wasn't good anymore or that he wasn't willing to embrace a lesser role.
Carmelo Anthony Becomes The NBA's 10th All-Time Leading Scorer
Fast-forward to today, and it's pretty clear that the Blazers did the right thing by offering him another chance, as he recently became the league's 10th all-time leading scorer and has been a huge presence for them off the bench:
“A couple of years ago I ain’t think I was gonna be in this moment. I was out of the league for whatever reason. I’m back. I persevered. I stayed strong I stayed true to myself & now I’m here in the Top 10,” Anthony said.
The 36-year-old veteran has now scored 27,314 career points (and counting) and there's a good chance that he becomes one of 8 players to score at least 30,000 points throughout his career before he retires.
Sadly, Anthony was never able to win a ring or even make it to the NBA Finals but that shouldn't stain his legacy as one of the greatest scorers of all time, and the league should line up and ask him for forgiveness after what they did to him.
