Carmelo Anthony joined Stephen A. Smith on the set of First Take today for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on his fallout with the Houston Rockets, his time with the OKC Thunder, and his desire to have a farewell tour in the NBA.
In regards to his stint with the Rockets, Carmelo says he felt like the reason he was let go was deeper than basketball.
"I cant make a nine man rotation? That's what you tryin' to tell me? I've already started to accept the fact that I gotta come off the bench, which was very hard for me. I accepted that and I moved on from that. But you tellin' me that I can't make a nine or ten man rotation on this team? It's deeper than basketball."
Anthony, 35, has not played since November 8 after the Houston Rockets announced that they'd be parting ways with him. In his 10 games with the Rockets, the 10-time All Star averaged a pedestrian 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in a career-low 29.4 minutes per night.
Check out Melo's full comments about what went wrong in Houston in the videos embedded below.