In the grand scheme, Carmelo Anthony’s career as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder will end up being an uninspiring footnote in the career of a surefire Hall of Famer, but on the two-year anniversary of the day he played his final game for the franchise, we can look back at Anthony’s arrival in Oklahoma City as one of the primary events that would jumpstart the rebuild that has followed.
On the day Sam Presti formed a new triumvirate that gave Thunder fans hope of again competing with the Warriors, he was also laying the groundwork of the roster that overachieved before the NBA suspended play on March 11.
Anthony would spend just 78 games in Thunder blue and average what were career-lows in points (16.2 points) and field goal percentage. On what was essentially his first day in the new office, he famously scoffed at the notion of coming off the bench. That set the tone for a season that saw him struggle to find productive efficiency. It was no surprise that he was traded after just one season, especially considering the fact that he didn’t seem to have any interest in opting out of the more than $27 million due to him under the terms of his contract.
No player in Anthony’s situation should opt out, nor should they be expected to, but that’s another story for another day.
Looking back at Anthony’s tenure with the Thunder, perhaps what was most remarkable were his parting words.
Their first-round loss in six games to the Utah Jazz and their 48-34 regular-season record made Oklahoma City underachievers. The prevailing sentiment was that something needed to give, but rather than acknowledge that, in his exit interview, Anthony doubled down on his declaration that he wasn’t a bench player and complained about his role, or lack thereof in Oklahoma City.
He would go on to play for the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, but not before being traded to and bought out by the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls.
To his credit, he claims those experiences humbled him, but if the Thunder could do it all over again, they probably would. Anthony directly led to the team acquiring Dennis Schroder and perhaps indirectly enabled them to extract a king’s ransom from the Rockets in exchange for Russell Westbrook.
All things considered, while the Thunder did give up Enes Kanter in the package they sent out for Anthony, they effectively received Schroder in exchange for him. That’s probably a net-plus for the Thunder.
More importantly, though — and perhaps not coincidentally — four days after Anthony was acquired by the Thunder, Russell Westbrook signed a five-year extension with the club. It was a widely celebrated event that gave the franchise a rare victory in what was a brief era full of disappointments.
It was also that extension that helped put the Thunder on their current trajectory.
Westbrook and George would obviously eventually be moved out for draft picks, but the haul that Presti was able to extract from the Rockets for Westbrook (Chris Paul and four future first-round picks) would’ve certainly been less had Westbrook signed a shorter extension. It’s also plausible that, without Anthony and the promise that Westbrook, Anthony and Paul George had, he could have simply left as a free agent following the conclusion of the 2017-18 season.
It’s a great “What if?” but Presti’s acquisition of Anthony (and George) sent a message to Westbrook: Presti will always find a way to field a competitor.
Even now, as the team has completely turned the page, the upstart Thunder of 2019-20 have done exactly that.
But if you follow the bouncing ball, chronologically speaking, the team traded for Anthony, signed Westbrook to his extension, re-signed George, traded Anthony, traded George to the Clippers and then traded Westbrook to the Rockets.
In the end, they walked away with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, Dennis Schroder, Chris Paul and eight draft picks, among other things.
Hard to be mad about that.
It’s been two years since Anthony last played a game for the Thunder. But even still, it’s easy to argue that those 78 games and Westbrook’s extension were blessings for the organization.
Contrary to what you may have thought, the Thunder did win with Carmelo.