Post-retirement careers for former NBA players usually include them staying as close to the game as possible. Be it legends like Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups who forayed into coaching, or Jeff Teague and Kendrick Perkins, who moved into the media space, their love for the game doesn’t allow them to look anywhere else. Such is the case with Carmelo Anthony, too, who’s been introduced as one of NBC’s announcers for their NBA coverage starting next season.
Advertisement
Anthony, a 10-time NBA All-Star and 2025 Hall of Fame inductee, was initially hesitant about his new analytic career. But his foray into the podcast space has helped him adjust to life in front of the camera. He is associated with two podcasts, a wine-related one called ‘What’s in Your Glass’ and his own ‘7 PM in Brooklyn’ podcast. Along wth these, Melo has also made appearances on other podcasts.
In a recent episode of Podcast P, Sixers forward Paul George sat down with Melo to talk about life in the media. George congratulated him on joining NBC’s iconic NBA show and asked how much his podcasting experience influenced the move. Anthony revealed that while he never aimed to enter the media world, podcasting helped him mellow down after playing competitive basketball for nearly his entire life.
Unsurprisingly, the usually reserved and laidback Anthony revealed that he was initially reluctant about jumping into the media space.“I never wanted to do it,” he said. “I never wanted to do podcasts. I barely wanted to do media. To jump into the media space and just talking about the game, I don’t want to do that.”
To some, Melo’s reservations may have been linked to the years of harsh critiques he received from those in the media, such as Charles Barkley and his former head coach, George Karl. However, it is not as simple as that. The former lottery pick, drafted 3rd overall in 2003, felt that the amount of time he had dedicated to basketball deserved to be honored by speaking to a select group of people.
“Do you know the amount of work I put [into] this game? I don’t want to just talk to everybody about this. I need to keep a lot of this to myself. I can’t share all of this yet,” he continued.
Having spent his entire life in basketball, which now includes helping to train his highly regarded son, Kiyan Anthony, Melo also revealed that after his own career, his hesitation was partly due to the feeling that he still needed to decompress from over three decades in the sport. “I can’t share all of this yet. I’m still in it. I’m still decompressing from 32 years of basketball.”
Melo later lamented that basketball media had strayed from discussing what truly mattered in basketball. He echoed fellow draftee LeBron James’ sentiments from a few months ago, and said, “I also wasn’t feeling the way the game was being talked about. The game was being criticized. I just got tired of that. I want to hear more talking about the game. Let’s talk strategy. Let’s talk the why?”
Melo’s addition to NBC’s NBA coverage coincides with the network’s resumption of broadcasting NBA games, with plans to air up to 100 games per season, including playoff matchups.
With a star-studded roster for their coverage, including Carmelo Anthony and a certain Michael Jordan, NBC might give the fans the tactical analysis they really want, and not the glorified legacy debates that ESPN gets up to on a daily basis.
