Carmelo Anthony said the Detroit Pistons ‘promised’ to draft him in 2003 and it’s so upsetting

Carmelo Anthony was really almost a Detroit Piston

NBA history is riddled with “what if?” questions surrounding certain huge moments in NBA history.

And one of the biggest questions that people still ask nearly two decades later is what if the Detroit Pistons draft Carmelo Anthony with the second pick in the 2003 NBA draft? Where do they go from there? What happens to his career?

Obviously, they didn’t. They chose Darko Milicic and, despite him not being nearly the player they thought he’d be, they still won the NBA championship in 2004.

But still, if they draft Anthony, who became one of the greatest scorers in league history, do they win more? That’s something that even he thinks about, he told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast.

Mostly because the Pistons, according to Anthony, promised him they’d draft him second overall.

“That changed the course of my career, man…To this day, I still think about that…Because, I’m like, they promised me…I’m talking all the way up until draft day, you understand? ‘We’re taking you.’,” 

That’s wild if it’s true. Draft promises are a big deal, first of all. Breaking them is just never a good look from a personal standpoint.

But, second, man. Breaking a promise to Carmelo Anthony to pick up Darko Milicic? That’s rough. And no disrespect to Darko, but Anthony is a top 10 scorer in NBA history. He should’ve gone second. Anthony seems to think the Pistons would’ve won back-to-back titles had they picked him. “If I’m there, I think we win another,” he said.

Everything worked out fine in the end. The Pistons won their title and Anthony went on to become one of the greatest scorers ever. No harm, no foul.

But just know there might be a parallel universe somewhere where Anthony is an NBA champion as a Detroit Piston.

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