NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony is easily one of the most recognizable names in basketball. The 10x All-Star, 6x All-NBA player, and Olympic basketball legend has achieved great success on all stages of the sport.
He has told many stories of his grand adventures over the years, and all of them are entertaining to read/hear.
In a recent chat, Melo revealed another story, this time from his childhood, of the time he got fed up with his own name “tried” to change it to Tyrone. Yes, you read that right.
In a rather interesting and hilarious story, which he told in an appearance on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, he revealed his attempt to don the new name:
“I’m in 3rd grade. I’m coming from New York,” said the Lakers star. “Nobody knows who the hell I am [in Baltimore]. I come the summer of ’92. School starts in September. So I have two months to meet some people, hang out. Mind you, I’m 8 or 9 years old at this point. When I get to 3rd grade, first day of school you gotta write your name on a white index card.
That whole summer, people was butchering my name. It was just like ‘Caramelo’ and ‘Camelo’. “There wasn’t no nothing bad to it. I just didn’t like people f–ing my name up. … So I write the name ‘Tyrone’ and I’m looking around and I’m like ‘what last name am I gonna go with?’ So I see a textbook and it’s like ‘Johnson’ and something textbook. So I’m like, ‘Tyrone Johnson’.”
Melo was just a kid back then, so it was really nothing more than the imagination and wishful thinking of a child.
But nobody likes to have their name mispronounced, so it’s understandable why he was so frustrated at the time. Nowadays, everybody knows who Carmelo Anthony is. He’s a basketball star and one of the best scorers to ever play the game.
And, as he looks to help the Lakers capture another title this upcoming season, he’ll once again remind the world just who he is.
