Carmelo Anthony, Whose Links to Bulls Run Deep, Retires From NBA

Anthony, whose Bulls' links run deep, retires originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Technically, Carmelo Anthony only logged 10 days of service with the Chicago Bulls, none of them in uniform.

But Anthony, who officially announced his retirement from basketball in a poignant social media post on Monday, had multiple links to the franchise over the years, always leaving a "what if?" shadow as his 19-year career progressed.

The Bulls finally acquired Anthony from the Houston Rockets in a January 2019 trade, but the move was merely for financial reasons and he never reported to Chicago before the Bulls waived him as planned on February 1.

That transaction came nearly a decade after Anthony landed in trade rumors surrounding the Bulls and Denver Nuggets, who drafted the ten-time All-Star third overall in 2003 as part of a robust class that included LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Kirk Hinrich for the Bulls. The Nuggets showed major interest in Joakim Noah at that time, whom the Bulls wanted to keep.

In fact, Noah's heart and soul proved one of the most attractive pieces to Anthony as he pondered joining the Bulls in free agency in 2014, just over three years after the Nuggets traded him to the New York Knicks.

The Bulls rolled out the red carpet for Anthony's anticipated free-agent visit on a gorgeous summer day in 2014. Banners with pictures of Anthony in a Bulls' No. 7 uniform lined Madison Street. Derrick Rose even joined in a brief recruiting pitch for Anthony, an atypical move for the loyal and mild-mannered Rose. And Anthony donned a hard hat alongside then-coach Tom Thibodeau to tour the unfinished, but soon-to-be-gleaming Advocate Center.

Instead, Anthony chose to re-sign with the Knicks and the Bulls quickly pivoted to sign Pau Gasol as their backup plan. Gasol earned two straight All-Star berths with the Bulls. In an interview with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, Anthony later confirmed how close he was to choosing the Bulls. 

"I was going to Chicago. Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, I was there, right? I was there," Anthony said. "And then I started getting whispers behind the scenes. 'Yo, look, this person ain't gonna be there. It ain't really right.' This and that. It was all of that started to come up in the midst of my decision making. I wasn't gonna let anything cloud that," Anthony told Smith. "I met with New York (Knicks) last. Like, I think it was the last team I met with because I knew that I was ready to move on from that situation because of what I was dealing with and going through in New York."

Those Bulls teams also had Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, but Thibodeau's cold war with management that eventually led to Thibodeau's firing in 2015 gave Anthony pause.

Anthony, who spent the 2017-18 season with Billy Donovan in Oklahoma City, retires as the ninth-leading scorer in NBA history. He's also one of the most decorated players in USA Basketball history, winning three gold and one bronze medal at four Olympics ranging from 2004 in Athens to 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Butler's coming-out party as a young player trying to find his way with the Bulls and minutes from Thibodeau came during a high-profile matchup at Madison Square Garden. But even Butler admitted all he did was compete hard and make Anthony work for his points.

Nobody truly could stop one of the best pure scorers the game ever has seen in a one-on-one matchup. With a 23.9 points-per-game scoring average in 45 career games against the Bulls, Chicago knows that well.

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