NBA: Carmelo Anthony's Behavior, Not Talent A Concern For Executives

Carmelo Anthony remaining an unrestricted free agent with only weeks remaining for training camp to begin continues to be one of the most discussed topics in the NBA. The 10-time NBA All-Star is desperate to play at least one more season and have a proper farewell but no team has yet come forward with a concrete offer.

The 35-year-old small forward has been training regularly and his trainer believes he is 100 percent ready to play in the league and even went on to claim that he is better than 60 percent of the players currently signed up. However, according to Zach Harper of The Athletic, NBA executives are not too concerned about his ability to contribute to the team during the course of the campaign but his willingness to accept a lesser role within the team.

“League executives don’t seem to believe he is willing to accept a lesser role. And that becomes a distraction with a player of his star power (from a media standpoint). The press conference in OKC when he laughed at the idea of coming off the bench still haunts his career,” Harper wrote.

“It has put this black cloud over how he’s viewed in front offices around the league. Teams don’t really doubt whether he’s talented enough still. It’s whether or not he’s going to deviate from his way of playing basketball,” he added.

Anthony last played in the NBA in November 2018 for the Houston Rockets. He played 10 games last season before he was exiled by the Houston franchise and eventually traded to Chicago Bulls, who waived the player making him a free agent.

The former New York Knicks forward averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds with the Rockets while shooting 40.5 percent from the field, 32.8 percent from beyond the arc and 68.2 percent from the free-throw line. Anthony was most recently linked with a move to Brooklyn Nets with a report suggesting that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were pushing the franchise to sign the veteran forward.

LeBron James has been constantly mentioned in the debate about Anthony deserving a place in the NBA with many claiming that the three-time NBA champion has the power to ensure his close friend is signed by an NBA franchise before training camp gets underway.