This week, longtime NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony announced his retirement from the sport. And while he’s played a long career and will almost certainly be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, Anthony missed out on one key thing throughout his 20 seasons in the league: an NBA Championship.
Though Carmelo Anthony acknowledges that he undoubtedly would have liked to have won an NBA title during his long career, he also revealed that he’s “at peace” with the way his career played out, telling Sports Illustrated “I’ve won at life.”
“I’m at peace,” Anthony told Sports Illustrated. “That doesn’t bother me no more; that idea that you’re a loser if you don’t win a championship. For me, I’ve won. I won back in 2003, the night I shook David Stern’s hand on that [draft] stage. I made it out of Red Hook. I’ve won at life. The ring is the only thing I didn’t get. It would’ve been a great accomplishment, but I don’t regret it because I feel like I did everything I could to get it.”
Anthony certainly tried to win a title, reaching the Western Conference Finals with the Denver Nuggets back in 2009 and teaming up with LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2021-22 season before ultimately failing to make the playoffs.
It’s the one thing he did not accomplish throughout his career, but it sounds like he’s already come to terms with that.
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