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Carmelo Anthony Responds to NBA Championship and Olympics Gold Medal Comparison: ‘It’s The Pride’
Carmelo Anthony was straightforward with his words when he was asked about exchanging his Olympic medals for NBA title.
Carmelo Anthony stated he wouldn't exchange his three Olympic gold medals for an NBA championship. Anthony retired from the NBA after 19 seasons without winning a ring.
Anthony told BasketNews' Donatas Urbonas, "When we talk about global sport, for me a medal means something different than an NBA championship. They both have their separate meanings, but winning a gold medal, it's the passion, it's the pride that you have, not just for a city or a state, but for a whole nation, for a whole country you're winning for.
Anthony added, "It's a different level of, I would say, pride that you have to have when you're wearing USA across your chest, or you're wearing Lithuania across your chest. It's a different feeling than Knicks, New York across your chest."
Anthony's victories at the 2008 Beijing Games, 2012 London Olympics, and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games tie him for the second-most Olympic gold medals in Team USA men's basketball history. The gold medal game of the 2016 Rio Olympics was the "proudest moment" of the Olympics, according to the former NBA legend.
Anthony said, "It was like, this is it. And I went full circle in international play, and this is it. To be able to put that perspective in, and losing, and winning, you have to grind it back, the journey of getting to that point, where I could just say, okay, I've done what I had to do in 16 years."
Even though Anthony played in the NBA for nearly 20 years—eight of those with the Denver Nuggets and seven with the New York Knicks—he was never able to repeat his level of Olympic success in the league.
Anthony has only advanced to the conference finals in 13 NBA playoff trips, where the Nuggets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009, who went on to win the championship. Anthony told Urbonas that playing for Team USA abroad, like at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, which was formerly known as the FIBA World Championship, was a simpler experience than playing for NBA teams like the Nuggets or Knicks.
Anthony, who announced his retirement from the NBA after the Lakers' 2021–22 season, was in attendance at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris at Bercy Arena to witness Team USA defeat France 98–87 to win their fifth consecutive Olympic gold.
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