Carmelo Anthony is the best basketball player who never played the game

Anybody can understand the game of basketball. It doesn’t take much to grasp how the game is played within the rules that govern the sport. For those who frequent this site, I probably don’t need to spell all of that out for you.

But there’s another game that goes on beyond the actual game of basketball that gets played that’s not so obvious. I’m not talking about the game within the game where you try to score more points than the guy guarding you, or the one where you try to win a four minute segment before the next timeout.

I’m talking about the game that goes on beyond the confines of the parquet and it’s one that I can’t help but think of when it comes to Carmelo Anthony. After months of radio silence, Melo made his first public comments since the Houston Rockets parted ways with him after just 10 games last NBA season. On Friday he appeared on ESPN’s First Take.

Since the unceremonious split with the Rockets, Anthony has spend much of his time in limbo, searching for his next NBA team while simultaneously wondering whether his time as a basketball player is finished. Anthony, of course, is one of the greatest basketball players and pure scorers of all-time. Whether his career is finished or not, he’ll walk away from the sport of basketball as one of the best to ever play.