Carmelo Anthony may have a great legacy and history in the NBA, but it may be pass him now. At the age of 34, Carmelo is showing signs of decline in his performance that he may be still unaware of.
In his most recent season in the NBA, Carmelo had a career-low average for Points Per Game with 16.2 in his first year with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Not to mention shooting at a very low 40.4 percent from the field that is also the worst in his career. He’s been known as an offensive juggernaut throughout his career but it’s clear he doesn’t have the same capabilities that he used to have.
Carmelo still believes in his ability to win matches and carry his side like he’s done in years before, confidence has been no issue. He wants to be out there on the court at every possible opportunity and by not wanting to come to the bench, it can cost his team more than he realizes.
We’ve decided to come up with a list of 50 current NBA players who are performing better than Carmelo Anthony is right now. There are many other players in the NBA at this moment who are more valuable to their teams even if they average less points or aren’t as big of an offensive threat as Carmelo. This includes players such as Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz who may only have averaged a total of 13.5 points but has shown his value to the Jazz through his defensive dominance.
Other players such as Thunder teammates Paul George and Russell Westbrook have both shown that they’re more valuable to OKC in the 2017/2018 season. Both have proven to be bigger offensive presences than Anthony averaging 21.9 and 25.4 points per game respectively.
Carmelo Anthony is currently just a shadow of the great basketballer he was, the 10-time NBA All-Star may have had a better career than most of the names on this list but they are all currently more valuable players to their teams.
1. Kyrie Irving
2. Gordon Hayward
3. Al Horford
4. Kemba Walker
5. Kevin Love
6. DeAndre Jordan
7. Harrison Barnes
8. Nikola Jokic
9. Paul Millsap
10. Blake Griffin
11. Andre Drummond
12. Stephen Curry
13. Klay Thompson
14. Kevin Durant
15. Draymond Green
16. DeMarcus Cousins
17. Chris Paul
18. James Harden
19. Victor Oladipo
20. Tobias Harris
21. LeBron James
22. Mike Conley
23. Marc Gasol
24. Goran Dragic
25. Karl-Anthony Towns
26. Jimmy Butler
27. Khris Middleton
28. Giannis Antetokounmpo
29. Jrue Holiday
30. Anthony Davis
31. Kristaps Porzingis
32. Russell Westbrook
33. Paul George
34. Aaron Gordon
35. Ben Simmons
36. Joel Embiid
37. Devin Booker
38. Damian Lillard
39. CJ McCollum
40. DeMar DeRozan
41. LaMarcus Aldridge
42. Kyle Lowry
43. Kawhi Leonard
44. Ricky Rubio
45. Donovan Mitchell
46. Rudy Gobert
47. John Wall
48. Bradley Beal
49. Dwight Howard
50. Jayson Tatum