"I remember the days when I had nothing, just a ball on the pitch and a dream with something extra," Melo said in a video posted on Instagram.
"But basketball was my outlet. My goal was high (for) the cities I proudly represented and the fans who supported me along the way. I am forever grateful to these people and places because they made me Carmelo Anthony. But the time has come for me to say goodbye: to the pitch where I made a name for myself, to the game that gave me purpose and pride," he concluded.
Anthony, whose last NBA game was in April 2022, in the jersey of the Los Angeles Lakers alongside his friend LeBron James, has hoped all this season for an additional contract that has never been offered to him by one of the thirty franchises of the league.
Coming from Syracuse University, he was drafted 3rd overall by Denver in 2003, during one of the most beautiful vintages in history, with "LBJ" in N.1, Chris Bosh in N.4 and Dwyane Wade in N.5.
Named in 2021 as one of the 75 best players in NBA history, he led the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals in 2009, his best run in the playoffs, stopped by Kobe Bryant's Lakers future champions.
His silky shot made from 2010 the happiness of the Knicks and fans of Madison Square Garden where he quilted the baskets for seven years, before going through Oklahoma City, Houston, Portland and Los Angeles.
Ten times selected to the All-Star Game, he ranks his sneakers strong of 28,289 points scored in the NBA, an average of 22.5 per game (7,808 rebounds and 3,422 assists). Only LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk Nowitzki, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal have been more prolific.
Carmelo Anthony in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey on April 5, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona © Christian Petersen/Getty/AFP/Archives
At the international level, however, his record is golden, as he was Olympic champion three times in a row in 2008, 2012 and 2016, with Team USA.
© 2023 AFP