Carmelo Anthony, a professional basketball player, had several opportunities at the start of his career to join teams that had a better chance of winning a championship. However, he prioritized financial gain and decided to stay with his current team instead of switching to a more competitive team. This decision was motivated by his desire to maximize his earnings, as he would have had to leave money on the table to join a more successful team.
Throughout his career, Carmelo consistently chose financial gain over the opportunity to win a championship potentially. Despite being one of the top players in the league, he never won an NBA championship, and some have argued that his focus on money may have hindered his ability to achieve this goal. Nevertheless, Carmelo prioritized financial gain throughout his career, even if it meant taking a hit to his chances of winning a championship.
Carmelo admitted as much in this interview with Complex where he was asked if it bothered him that he didn’t win a championship because it is all about money now.
No, it don’t bother because the game changed and the culture of the game changed. It was like in the ’80s, ’90s, when it was about ring culture. I think now it’s the money. It’s the bag, It’s let me go get 200 (million) and rightfully so. But the focus is not just rings no more, you know what I mean?
You still wanna win the championship but it’s like I’m gonna get the 60 million before I go get the ring. So I just think that the mindset has shifted tremendously when it comes to ring culture. Like, there’s no way that guys who haven’t won the ring shouldn’t still get the credit that they deserve.
(Charles) Barkley is who he is. You know, Reggie (Miller) is who he is. We are who we are. So because we didn’t get win the NBA championship, we shouldn’t get credit? Like we should just be dismissed on everything? So I will always kind of disagree with that but as far as ring culture, I think people understand that not everybody can win it.
And especially nowadays with teams doing everything they gotta do. They bring 4-5 All-Stars together so for the teams that are developing and young, they ain’t got no shot right now. So they have to work their way up.
That is Carmelo’s opinion.
Do you agree or disagree with what he said?
