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Carmelo Anthony Wanted To Play For ‘Starless’ Team USA 2019 And Got Rejected

These past few seasons haven’t really been ideal for Carmelo Anthony.

After a rough year in Oklahoma City, Melo was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-way deal, but never played a minute for the Hawks, and was bought out of his contract. Houston then signed him and was hopeful that he could improve their team.

That only lasted a couple of weeks, before Carmelo Anthony’s services were no longer required in Houston. Melo hasn’t played an NBA game ever since. He was the easy scapegoat for how subpar and dysfunctional the Rockets were.

His search for an NBA team to play for this season also hasn’t been met with success. How can Anthony prove that he’s still NBA worthy? Play for Team USA in the up and coming FIBA World Cup? That could have likely been his thought process, only that Team USA didn’t have any plans to include the 10-time All-Star.

Anthony was part of three gold winning Team USA at the Olympics and is the leading scorer and rebounder in Team USA Olympic history. That wasn’t enough to convince the current officials of the team.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said that he was approach by Anthony’s team about him playing in the World Cup, but he denied the request.

“He was a very good international player. But for where we are and what we’re doing, that conceivably could have been a distraction. I understand why the request was made. He’s trying to reestablish himself. I think that has to be done in the [NBA].”

With all the stars not taking part in this year’s FIBA tournament, and with Melo’s contribution for Team USA over the past 15 years, he should have been granted an opportunity to at least be part of the training camp to convince Team USA coaches and officials.