Carmelo Anthony has zero interest in some “damn farewell tour.”
Melo inked a non-guaranteed $2.15 million deal with the struggling Portland Trail Blazers, and has so far been a welcome addition.
The 35-year-old, 10-time NBA All-Star is four games into his return to the League, and says he is certainly “not thinking about retiring right now.”
Per The Athletic:
“This ain’t a damn farewell tour,” Anthony said. “My love for the game don’t stop. I don’t know where this ‘farewell tour’ thing came from. I’ve never talked about a farewell tour. I know what I can do and I believe in myself. When a farewell tour comes, it comes. That’s not something I think about. I’m not thinking about retiring right now. I had (thought about it) during this past stretch over the summer. But ain’t no retiring in my mind. I believe in what I have left.”
Anthony had a standout fourth game for Portland (6-12), scoring 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting in the Trail Blazers‘ blowout road win over Chicago to close out their road trip. He passed Alex English for 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
“It’s been very validating returning to the floor,” Anthony said. “From the standpoint of to know the amount of talk being said about me, versus the amount of support that I had. I think the amount of support outweighs all the negativity and what was said. The frustrating part was someone coming up with a narrative, then everybody just piggybacking off of it.
“A narrative that nobody even knew what happened or what was going on. That was the frustrating part.”
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