During a segment on his podcast, 3x NBA champion Dwyane Wade detailed his impression of watching Carmelo Anthony for the first time. According to Wade, seeing Melo work on offense was like watching unprecedented greatness with the ball.
“My first time watching Melo play in person was in New York, Madison Square Garden. We were in the same tournament. We didn’t play each other, but we were in the same tournament. Y’all played Memphis, we played Villanova,” said Wade. “I’m sitting there, and I’m watching this player that I’ve heard about in High School that’s supposed to be nice but I’m kind of hating a little bit. You had like 30… It looked so easy… I was like, damn, I ain’t never seen this up close in person. And I was like ‘I think this is the best basketball player I’ve watched with my own eyes.’ Because I ain’t seeing MJ and all of them with my own eyes.”
Dwyane Wade is a legend in the NBA who retired back in 2019. As a 3x champion, 13x All-Star, and 8x All-NBA player, Dwyane enjoyed a lot of success in the league, and his legacy today ranks among the greatest in modern NBA history.
During his time in the NBA, and even into retirement, Wade established connections with various players that remain strong to this day. The most known of these bonds is Wade and his infamous bana boat crew, which includes LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Carmelo Anthony.
We don’t know for sure when Wade and Anthony first became friends but as two athletes who played in the NBA at roughly the same time, we can guess that they built some kind of relationship during one of their countless clashes on the basketball court.
While Wade would end his NBA tenure as the more accomplished athlete, Carmelo was on track for greatness as he was starting his own career. Coming off a championship run at Syracuse, Anthony was the second-hottest prospect in his draft class after LeBron James. He was drafted 2nd to the Nuggets in 2003, two spots above Wade.
In his first eight years in the NBA, Carmelo was a bonafide superstar and widely seen as one of the best young players in the game. He averaged 24.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game for the Nuggets and led them as far as the Western Conference Finals (where they lost to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in 2009).
Eventually, Carmelo forced his way to the Knicks and things took a different turn. While Melo played his role to perfection (24.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game), the Knicks were unable to surround him with enough support and they were never able to make a serious title run.
By the time Anthony retired in 2022, the lack of a championship was the biggest story of his career and it’s what keeps him from being ranked in the same company as Wade, LeBron, and some of his other peers from the 2003 draft class. But for those who played with Anthony, and experienced his game first-hand, there is no question that the dude was a baller and he could have accomplished great things with a team that was better-equipped to compete in the postseason.
