Carmelo Anthony retires from Team USA Basketball (Video)
By John Buhler
New York Knicks star forward and the greatest Olympic basketball player in United States history Carmelo Anthony has decided to retire from Team USA.
New York Knicks 34-year-old small forward Carmelo Anthony is deciding to retire from the United States’ Men’s National Basketball Team after winning the gold medal over Serbia in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
After being part of the disappointing bronze medal team during the 2004 Athens Games, Anthony went on to win Olympic gold medals in three straight Summer Olympiads: 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, and 2016 in Rio.
He was the elder statesman of the 2016 Men’s National Team and became the first United States’ Men’s player to win three gold medals. He surpassed Michael Jordan as the all-time leading scorer in the Summer Olympics.
Though his NBA career hasn’t been as lucrative as even his one year in college at Syracuse University was in 2002-03, Anthony’s dominance in the Summer Olympics on the hardwood have eventually solidified his spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Anthony will return to the United States as a three-time Olympic champion in Men’s Basketball. Though the 2016 team had its vulnerable moments, Anthony’s strong shooting from the outside help the United States capture the gold for the third straight Olympiad.
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Now that his Olympic career is clearly in the rearview mirror, will Anthony be able to put all of his focus in helping the Knicks emerge as a threat in the NBA’s Eastern Conference? He’ll have himself four strong starters to work with in Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Kristaps Porzingis, and Courtney Lee.
Maybe Anthony’s success on the hardwood in Rio will translate to success at Madison Square Garden for the 2016-17 Knicks under first year head coach Jeff Hornacek?