Carmelo Anthony on cusp of reaching Top 10 all-time in scoring

Dominique Wilkins, Oscar Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Tim Duncan.

Those are the players that Carmelo Anthony has passed in career scoring so far this season. After beginning the 2020-21 season ranked 15^th on the all-time scoring list, Anthony enters Monday’s game needing 10 points to pass Elvin Hayes and enter the top 10 scorers in the 75-year history of the NBA.

In his 18^th season, Anthony is currently averaging 13.6 points per game for the Portland Trail Blazers, who face the Hawks in Atlanta on Monday (8 ET, NBA League Pass), giving Carmelo an opportunity to put himself in the top 10 scorers club with just one more double-digit scoring night in a career full of them.

Top 11 Scorers – NBA History (entering Monday, May 3, 2021)

RANK	PLAYER	GP	PTS	PTS/GM	TS%
1	Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	1,560	38,387	24.61	59.2
2	Karl Malone	1,476	36,928	25.02	57.7
3	LeBron James	1,307	35,299	27.01	58.7
4	Kobe Bryant	1,346	33,643	24.99	55.0
5	Michael Jordan	1,072	32,292	30.12	56.9
6	Dirk Nowitzki	1,522	31,560	20.74	57.7
7	Wilt Chamberlain	1,045	31,419	30.07	54.7
8	Shaquille O’Neal	1,207	28,596	23.69	58.6
9	Moses Malone	1,329	27,409	20.62	56.9
10	Elvin Hayes	1,303	27,313	20.96	49.1
11	Carmelo Anthony	1,185	27,304	23.04	54.2

Carmelo, after guiding Syracuse to the NCAA national championship in his freshman year, entered the 2003 NBA Draft. He was chosen as the No. 3 overall pick by the Denver Nuggets and started scoring from the first day.

In the 2003-04 season, Anthony topped the rookie scoring chart with an average of 21.0 points per game, barely surpassing LeBron James who averaged 20.9 points per game and was named Rookie of the Year. This highly competitive class also included top five picks Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Carmelo made an instant impact with the Nuggets, who went from 17-65 and 29^th in the league in scoring in 2002-03 to 43-39 and fifth in scoring in Anthony’s rookie season. He spent the first seven-and-a-half seasons of his career in Nuggets blue and yellow and made the playoffs every season.

While playing for the Nuggets, Anthony scored 13,970 points, the third highest in the franchise’s history, over 564 games, averaging 24.77 points per game. He had a field goal percentage of 45.9% (4,989 out of 10,877), a 3-point percentage of 31.1% (410 out of 1320), and a free throw percentage of 80.3% (3,582 out of 4462).

In the middle of the 2010-11 season, Carmelo was transferred to the New York Knicks. Even though his surroundings shifted from Colorado’s mountains to the streets of New York City, Carmelo’s scoring didn’t cease. He consistently racked up points every night while Madison Square Garden was his home court.

Indeed, the scoring continued at almost the same rate as it was in Denver. Anthony, who averaged 24.77 points per game with the Nuggets, would go on to average 27.72 points per game with the Knicks. The change in his scoring average was a mere 0.05 points per game between his first seven-and-a-half seasons and his subsequent six-and-a-half seasons. Overall, for 14 seasons, Anthony consistently remained one of the league’s top scorers.

Though Carmelo only secured one scoring title in his career (2012-13, 28.7 ppg), he consistently ranked in the top 10 for scoring over nine consecutive seasons (2005-06 to 2013-14). He also came close to winning the scoring title twice during that period, finishing as the runner up.

After the 2016-17 season, Carmelo Anthony was traded from the Knicks to the Oklahoma City Thunder, marking the start of the third phase of his career. This phase continues in Portland, where he serves as a key reserve for a Blazers team that has achieved four consecutive wins. The team aims to move beyond the Play-In Tournament and secure a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season.

Carmelo, currently Portland’s fourth top scorer with an average of 13.6 points per game, was relied upon significantly earlier in the season when CJ McCollum was out for two months due to a foot fracture. As the postseason approaches, having a dependable veteran scorer who can successfully make open shots or create opportunities independently, either off the dribble or in the post, is a great advantage.

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Let’s take another look at the Hall of Famers that Carmelo Anthony has surpassed this season and is poised to overtake this week – including Tim Duncan (1997-2016), Dominique Wilkins (1982-99), Oscar Robertson (1960-74), Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002) and Elvin Hayes (1968-84). These five players span almost the entire history of the NBA and embody various positions and eras. What sets them apart is their ability to excel in any era of the game – a quality Carmelo Anthony also possesses.

Carmelo, being one of the most formidable wing players in the game, wouldn’t have been bothered by the robust physicality of earlier generations. His ability to play in the post, drive the lane, and finish despite contact, means that hand checking and hard fouls wouldn’t have deterred him.

He doesn’t overly depend on the 3-point shot, unlike many of today’s high scorers who heavily rely on it to accumulate their points. While Carmelo can execute the three, it was never his main scoring method. As demonstrated by the chart above, most of his points were scored inside the restricted area (3,892 FGM) or in the mid-range (3,543 FGM). These two areas represent 56.2% of Anthony’s total points, with an additional 23.4% coming from free throws.

Anthony may not have lightning-fast speed, the ability to leap extraordinarily high, or shoot from 40 feet out like his current teammate Damian Lillard. However, his size, quick first step, and exceptional footwork are the tools he uses to continuously keep his opponents off balance in their attempts to defend against him.

If you guard him too closely, he’ll manage to bypass you on a drive, either reaching the rim, drawing a foul or executing a pull-up jumper. If you guard him too loosely, he’ll make you regret it by sinking a 3-pointer, then jogging down the court and tapping his temple thrice, a mnemonic not to leave him unguarded. Should the offense stagnate or the shot clock approach its end and a shot needs to be made, pass the ball to Carmelo in the post and let him do his magic.

Anthony is poised to enter the top 10 scorers club whether it happens on Monday or sometime later in the week. He can then aim to ascend even higher on the list. The next target for Anthony is Moses Malone, who is currently ahead of Anthony by a mere 118 points. Given Anthony’s current scoring rate, he would require nine games to surpass Malone for the ninth spot. Conveniently, the Blazers have nine remaining regular season games for Anthony to achieve this.