Stephen A. Smith highlights Carmelo Anthony's only 'blemish' that prevents comparison to LeBron James: "Should have been drafted #2"
Stephen A. Smith pointed out the only "blemish" in Carmelo Anthony's career on his show on Tuesday. In the new episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show," he touched on the subject of comparing Anthony and LeBron James.
Both players were drafted in the top five in 2003 with James as the top pick and Anthony third overall. However, only one of them had multiple chances of winning the NBA championship. Anthony, while he was with competitive teams like the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, didn't get to play for the Larry O'Brien trophy.
According to Smith, Anthony's lack of appearances in the NBA Finals makes him incomparable to James.
"His career is not comparable to that of LeBron James because James is a four-time champion and he's played 10 times in the NBA Finals, Melo never got there once," Smith said (5:15). "That is a huge blemish on the career of Anthony, it is the only blemish."
Smith also argued about how the 2003 NBA draft should have gone. The ESPN analyst said the Detroit Pistons missed the chance to use their second pick to draft Anthony. Instead of the former Syracuse star, the Pistons selected Darko Milicic, who didn't have a star-caliber career.
"When I think about Anthony, I think about a dude — I believe Joe Dumars would probably still be an executive in the NBA," Smith said. "When he had Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups. Yeah, you gon' draft Darko Milicic, I understand that.
"But the person that should have been drafted number 2 overall behind James in 2003 should've been Anthony."
Even without a title, Anthony is regarded as one of the best to play in the NBA. He was a 10-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection and three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Carmelo Anthony had a candid reaction to his Knicks teammates getting traded to LeBron James' team
In a clip posted on X on Tuesday from Carmelo Anthony's "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast, the former NBA star shared how he reacted to getting traded to the New York Knicks. Two of Anthony's teammates, Iman Shumpert and JR Smith, were moved by the team during the 2014-15 NBA season.
"You do not touch this nucleus right here," Anthony said. "I don't give a f*** what you do. I said 'Yo, y'all can't say s*** to me. Do you know what the f*** y'all just did? You're going to send them to him?' Y'all don't give a f*** about me. This s*** is nasty. This put them over the top."
Shumpert and Smith won a championship with James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, while Anthony didn't have enough pieces to lead New York to the postseason that year.