Other than being a Hall of Fame-worthy player from the NBA, Carmelo Anthony also has an impressive resume for USA Basketball. He is the third-highest scorer for Team USA in Olympic basketball and currently holds the record for the most number of gold medals, with three.
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During a conversation with BasketNews, Melo was asked an interesting question, whether he would like to trade his three Olympic gold medals for one NBA Championship since he retired without winning one. The 40-year-old, without hesitation, refused to trade his gold medals for a ring.
For someone who went through the turmoil of 2004 before getting his hands on his first gold medal, Melo can’t diminish the importance of the Olympic medals by replacing them with an NBA trophy. He said that there’s so much more pride attached to the gold medals that an NBA title can simply never have.
Melo said, “For me, a medal means something totally different than an NBA Championship. Both have their own separate meaning but winning a gold medal, it’s the passion, it’s the pride that you have not just for a city or a state, for whole nation, whole country that you’re winning it for.”
The Knicks legend said that winning a gold medal means bringing honor and respect to the nation as you’re wearing the USA jersey. Whereas in the NBA, it’s a franchise league, where one gets to represent a city or a state. The pride of the country attached to it makes an Olympic medal more special for Melo. In fairness, he has never assessed his legacy with a ring in his mind.
Anthony retired peacefully
Melo’s stellar NBA career spanned almost two decades. In that time, he made the league acknowledge him as one of the all-time greats of the game. With a resume that impressive, one would assume that since he didn’t have an NBA title before he retired, he might have some regrets about it.
However, during a conversation with Sports Illustrated‘s Chris Herring last year, he said, “I’m at peace. That doesn’t bother me no more; that idea that you’re a loser if you don’t win a championship…For me, I’ve won. I won back in 2003, the night I shook David Stern’s hand on that [draft] stage. I made it out of Red Hook. I’ve won at life.”
Making it into the league was all the validation he needed. With him refusing to exchange his Olympic gold medals for an NBA trophy, it further cements that Melo is satisfied with a career that he had in the league which was full of highs that most can only dream of.
