Carmelo Anthony is one of the greatest scorers in modern NBA history, but former NBA player Michael Beasley is confident he’d beat him if they played 1-on-1. Beasley made that bold claim when streamer Adin Ross mentioned on N3on’s stream that Anthony is one of his favorite players ever.
Michael Beasley: “I would bust his a**.”
Adin Ross: “You’d beat Melo?”
Beasley: “I will.”
Michael Beasley challenges Carmelo Anthony to a 1v1:
“I’ll bust Melo’s a**.”
(h/t @Next22Chapter)pic.twitter.com/Wz8uCZJhaG
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 11, 2025
You admire the confidence. Anthony has not responded to these comments, but if these two do end up facing off, your money should be on the future Hall of Famer, provided he is somewhat in good shape.
We just saw Beasley face off against Lance Stephenson in a 1-on-1 match. He did manage to win and walk away with $100,000, but the score was 31-21. If Stephenson, who averaged 9.8 points per game for his career, only lost by 10 points, you’d like Anthony’s chances.
Anthony averaged 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in his career. He was a terrific iso scorer and won the scoring title in 2013.
There are some superstars in NBA history who might not have games that are suited for 1-on-1 battles, but Anthony does not fall into that category. There are only a few whom you would have backed to beat him at his absolute best.
Getting back to Beasley, he has been running his mouth lately. He claimed that he blew out LeBron James when they played 1-on-1 during their time as teammates on the Miami Heat. The score was just 11-9 in his favor, though, so blowing out James would be an exaggeration.
As for the claim itself, we have heard this story for years about Beasley beating James whenever they faced off during practice. While that might seem unthinkable, he was a pretty good iso scorer.
Beasley averaged 19.2 points on 45.0% shooting from the field in his third season in the NBA, and it looked like he could become a star someday. Unfortunately, that was as good as it would get for the second pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, and his career would slowly fall apart.
It has been reported that Beasley lacked professionalism, and he had some off-the-court issues as well with regard to drugs. All that ensured he never quite fulfilled his potential. Beasley played his final NBA game when he was just 30 years old, and it’s a shame that his career panned out the way it did.
While Beasley has been boasting about blowing out James, he also recently had some high praise for him, calling him the GOAT.
