The 2017-2018 Oklahoma City Thunder promised to be a talented team with three of the best scorers in the modern NBA sharing the floor. Unfortunately, this experiment of teaming up the All-Star trio of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony failed to live up to the expectations. Years later, Melo and PG explain the reason behind the Thunder’s subpar performance during that campaign.
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Carmelo invited George to his 7 PM In Brooklyn podcast, and the two had an in-depth conversation about their brief stint as teammates. The former OKC members shared their two cents, trying to make sense of why the 2017-2018 season was a colossal failure.
Melo kick-started the conversation by claiming that the franchise hastily acquired him during the latter stages of the 2017 offseason. By the time he arrived, the team was already set with each player having a designated job.
“I didn’t have no role in OKC, no role it was “Melo you gon figure it out” and I was like ‘nah, I can’t figure sh*t out’… They wanted me to come off the bench and shift my contract, I was ready to come off the bench the next season. We lost in the playoffs and they looked at us crazy. We get 3 years together who knows what happens.”
George also agreed with the host and admitted that the entire process did seem “rushed”. He also had the same complaint about the front office not giving this experiment more time than a season to prove its worth.
“I thought the whole process was rushed, I was expecting that we were building something here. We got a trio, we saw what it look like, now we got a full training camp. I just thought it was rushed and too soon. We were only 1 year in.”
Carmelo Anthony and Paul George discuss their tenure in OKC together and what happened
Melo: I didn’t have no role in OKC, no role it was “Melo you gon figure it out” and I was like nah I can’t figure shit out. what you want me to do. I’m taking darts and I’m the 4th nigga on… pic.twitter.com/yc2UaFzjoR
— ❄️ (@TheWestbrookEra) July 30, 2024
The trio of Russ, George, and Melo were the leading scorers for the OKC, averaging more than 63 points per game. However, they were unable to convert these stats into wins. Despite finishing 4th in the conference, they would eventually get eliminated by a rookie Donovan Mitchell-led Utah Jazz in the first round of the postseason.
Unlike what Melo likes to believe, another few years on the same squad wouldn’t have made any difference. His productivity would take a massive dip, averaging fewer stats during the 10-game problematic run that he had with the Houston Rockets in the following season.
Further, Melo claimed that he would’ve adjusted to any role that the OKC would’ve wanted him to. But, he had an entire outburst stating that the Houston Rockets wouldn’t allow him to embrace the role he felt comfortable with after believing that he was “fired” from the franchise.
Experimenting with PG and Carmelo would be costly for the Thunders, as they would have to pay a combined $35+ million in the 2018-2019 season. For the same reason, it made the most sense for Sam Presti to end this arrangement without further straining the team’s finances.
