Carmelo Anthony’s Hall-of-Fame-worthy career saw him don six different jerseys, but one stop still stings more than the rest. In 2018, he joined the Houston Rockets, a team that seemed poised for a championship run. Yet, he was abruptly let go just 10 games into the season. No explanation, no warning – just gone. For years, Melo wrestled with the unanswered question: Why?
“Nobody ever really explained it to me,” he admitted in 2023. “To be honest, nobody can explain it to me because there’s no real reason as to why any of that transpired.” He had accepted a bench role and did everything that was asked of him, yet he was still cast aside. “I kept thinking, it’s gotta be deeper than that,” he added. “It felt like it was about more than just basketball at that point.”
Now, nearly 7 years later, Melo has finally assembled the pieces. “I get to Houston. The talk is, you the missing piece,” he recalled on his recent podcast. The Rockets had a solid core – Chris Paul, James Harden, P.J. Tucker, Clint Capela, and Eric Gordon. “I was supposed to complete the puzzle.”
At first, everything felt right. The team held a mini-camp in the Bahamas, a bonding experience that also set the tone for the season. “We serious in the mini-camp because we know I’m coming here to win,” Melo explained. But once preseason rolled around, things shifted. “In mini-camp, s— was happening. Now we get to preseason… and suddenly, things feel different.”
By the time the season tipped off, Melo thought he was locked in. “I just feel so good about like coming into this season, and like I’m ready. I’m ready to go play for a championship,” he said. But the Rockets didn’t see it that way. A clip of him laughing on the court became a symbol of what Houston wanted to erase.
February 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA great Carmelo Anthony is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during halftime in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The team had displayed a lack of trust in Melo’s offensive capabilities. The 10x All-Star described how the team put up a board in the locker room displaying the recommended number of 3-pointers, mid-range shots, and more per game. It stated that the maximum allowance of mid-range shots was 12. At the time, it was only Melo and Chris Paul who took those shots.
“I’m thinking, ‘all right, cool. You [Rockets] going to say CP got six, melo you got six.’” said Melo on the podcast. And that’s a fair ask. But the lack of trust in Carmelo finally showed. Melo explained what they told him.
“Nah, we want CP shooting majority of them cuz he’s really effective and efficient.” That’s got to sting. For any athlete, regardless of the sport they play. Management believed his teammate handled the role better, so they asked Melo to take a backseat – something that, of course, didn’t sit right with him.
“You want me to take away everything that I built my career off of?” he questioned. “This is why people would want me on a team… especially with this team. You’re missing a post-up guy, somebody who can draw double teams… It was a hell of a situation.”
During the 10 games Melo was there, the Rockets did nothing to maintain the standard they’d set the season before. Donning a 4-6 record and terrible defensive showing, the team focused on the upcoming Gary Clark. Clark, at the time, was viewed as a more solid defensive option who could replace the hole Melo left in the team.
Now, with the mystery unraveled, Melo’s ugly Rockets exit no longer feels like a personal failure. It’s just another chapter in the book of a franchise that never quite got it right.
Coach Daryl Morey admits his mistake for Carmelo Anthony situation
Back in 2018, Carmelo Anthony sat down with First Take and called out Houston’s front office for blindsiding him. “He [Morey] came in and basically said, ‘Look, your services are no longer needed,’” Melo recalled. Stunned, he asked, “What the hell are you talking about?”
But the real gut punch? Morey told him he wouldn’t even make the rotation. “I’m like, ‘I can’t make a nine-man rotation, that’s what you’re trying to tell me?’” Melo had already swallowed the tough pill of coming off the bench, but this? “It’s deeper than basketball,” he said.
Dec 22, 2018; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey looks on before a game between the Rockets… Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina -USA TODAY Sports
The stats show that Melo wasn’t exactly washed. In his 10 games with Houston, he put up a respectable 13.4 points per game. But his final outing, a brutal 1-for-11 shooting night against the Thunder, may have sealed his fate. By the time Melo approached Morey to figure things out, Morey had already made the decision.
“I actually reached out to Daryl [Morey] first,” Melo revealed. “But then he had in mind that he wanted to come talk to me, too, about releasing me and letting me go. I didn’t like how that went down,” he admitted.
Looking back, even Morey acknowledged he could’ve handled it better. “He can still really help a team,” he told NBC Sports that same year. “We thought that was gonna work… and to be fair to Carmelo, I do really think he can help a team.” However, for Melo, the damage was already done. Houston had already shown him the door.
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