Carmelo Anthony makes his first return visit to Houston

There probably won’t be a tribute video. but Carmelo Anthony is returning for the first time since his brief stint in Houston last season.

There probably won’t be a tribute video, but future Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony will make his first return to Houston as a player on Wednesday night when the Rockets host the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Rockets opted to part ways with the 10-time All-Star after a brief 10-game stint to start the 2018-19 season. At the time, the Rockets — coming off a Western Conference Finals berth the prior season — were a disappointing 4-6 and exploring all sorts of changes to get back on track.

After going over a year without a team, the 35-year-old Anthony was finally signed by Portland in late November 2019. Oddly enough, Anthony was signed for a very similar reason to his release, since the Blazers were coming off their own conference finals berth and looking for a spark after an unexpected 5-12 start to the next season.

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To his credit, Anthony has shot the ball much better in 26 games with the Blazers this season than he did during his time with the Rockets. The former NBA scoring champion is averaging 16.3 points in 31.8 minutes per game on 43.4% shooting overall and 39.4% on 3-pointers.

Both figures are up from the 40.5% clip and 32.8% rate on 3-pointers that Anthony shot in 29.4 minutes per game with the Rockets.

However, reports have indicated that Houston’s concerns with Anthony had more to do with his production — or lack thereof — on the defensive end of the floor, as opposed to his offensive efficiency. In particular, the aging Anthony was seen as a liability in their switch-heavy scheme.

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From that standpoint, it doesn’t seem like matters have changed much. Per Basketball-Reference, Anthony has a defensive rating of 112 this season, which is near the worst of his 17-year career and identical to his mark last season with the Rockets.

The Blazers are just 11-15 (.423) in the 26 games that Anthony has played, which equates to a win pace of less than 35 games over a full NBA season. They’re currently 17-24 and on the outside looking in of the 2019-20 Western Conference playoff picture, which is far below expectations coming off their success last spring.

Nonetheless, Anthony has been a consistent contributor as the team’s starter at power forward, and he even added a game-winner last week as the Blazers edged out defending NBA champion Toronto on the road.

As for his return to Houston, Anthony’s stint with the Rockets was brief enough that it’s not likely to draw any sort of tribute video or fanfare.

But there shouldn’t be many hard feelings, either. Anthony, who had long been a target of Rockets GM Daryl Morey, gave the team a chance upon signing in August 2018 for the league’s minimum salary. By all accounts, he was a very good teammate during his time in Houston. It just wasn’t the best fit for either side.

Though the ending was a bit awkward, Anthony has now moved on with his career by finding success at another NBA stop. And in doing so, Anthony’s time with the Blazers ensures the odd Houston saga isn’t remembered as the final chapter of his storied Hall of Fame career.

Wednesday’s tip-off between the Rockets (26-13) and Blazers is at 8:30 p.m. Central, with the game broadcast nationally on ESPN.