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

Dominique Wilkins, Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson, 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, having guided Syracuse to the NCAA national championship in his freshman year, entered the 2003 NBA Draft. He was picked as the No. 3 overall by the Denver Nuggets and started scoring impressively from his very first game.

In the 2003-04 season, Anthony was the highest scoring rookie, averaging 21.0 points per game. He narrowly surpassed LeBron James, who scored an average of 20.9 points per game and was crowned Rookie of the Year. The top five selections of that year were also graced with the likes of 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. This averages to 24.77 points per game. His shooting accuracy was 45.9% from the field (4,989 out of 10,877 attempts), 31.1% from the 3-point range (410 out of 1,320 attempts), and 80.3% from the free throw line (3,582 out of 4,462 attempts).

Carmelo was traded to the New York Knicks in the middle of the 2010-11 season. Despite the shift from Colorado’s mountains to the urban setting of New York City, Carmelo’s scoring prowess remained undiminished as he consistently racked up points at his new home ground, Madison Square Garden.

Indeed, the scoring continued at almost the exact same rate as in Denver. Anthony averaged 24.77 points per game with the Nuggets and would go on to average 27.72 points per game with the Knicks. There was only a minor change in his scoring average of 0.05 points per game between his initial seven-and-a-half seasons and the following six-and-a-half seasons. In sum, Anthony maintained his position as one of the league’s top scorers for 14 consistent seasons.

Though Carmelo only secured one scoring title in his career in 2012-13 with a score of 28.7 ppg, he consistently ranked among the top 10 scorers for nine consecutive seasons from 2005-06 to 2013-14. He also ended up in the second position for the scoring title on two occasions during this period.

After the 2016-17 season, the Knicks traded Anthony to the Oklahoma City Thunder, marking the beginning of the third phase of Carmelo’s career. He is now a key reserve for the Portland Trail Blazers, who have won four consecutive games. The team is aiming to avoid the Play-In Tournament and secure a playoff berth for the eighth year in a row. Anthony’s career is still flourishing in Portland.

Carmelo, scoring an average of 13.6 points per game, is Portland’s fourth top scorer. Earlier in the season, his role was more prominent while CJ McCollum was out for two months due to a foot fracture. Having a dependable veteran scorer who can make open shots or create opportunities on his own, either off the dribble or in the post, is a significant advantage going into the postseason.

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Let’s take another look at the Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony has overtaken this season and is on track to surpass this week – Tim Duncan (1997-2016), Dominique Wilkins (1982-99), Oscar Robertson (1960-74), Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002), and Elvin Hayes (1968-84). These five players, who cover nearly the entire history of the NBA and embody different positions and periods, are renowned for their talents that would have stood out in any era of the sport. The same is true for Carmelo Anthony.

Carmelo’s strength as one of the top wing players in the game means he wouldn’t have been fazed by the physicality of past generations. His game consists of playing in the post, driving the lane, and finishing despite contact. Hand checking and hard fouls wouldn’t have deterred him.

He doesn’t excessively depend on the 3-point shot, unlike many of today’s high scorers who heavily rely on it to amass their points. Although Carmelo is capable of shooting three pointers, it was never his primary scoring method. The chart above clearly shows that most of his points were scored inside the restricted area (3,892 FGM) or from mid-range (3,543 FGM). These two zones contributed to 56.2% of Anthony’s total points, while another 23.4% were obtained from the free throw line.

Anthony doesn’t possess extraordinary speed, isn’t known for high jumping, and doesn’t shoot from far out like his current teammate Damian Lillard. However, he leverages his size, swift initial move, and excellent footwork to continuously unsettle defenders attempting to restrain him.

If you guard him too closely, he’ll get past you, either reaching the rim, drawing a foul or making a pull-up jump shot. If you guard him too loosely, he’ll punish you by sinking a 3-pointer and then running across the court tapping his head three times, as a reminder not to leave him unguarded. If the offense slows down or the shot clock is running out and you need a shot, look for Carmelo in the post and let him take over.

Anthony is poised to join the top 10 scorers club, whether that happens on Monday or later in the week, and he can aim to rise further up the rank. Moses Malone is next in line, leading Anthony by a mere 118 points. According to Anthony’s current scoring average, it would take him nine games to overtake Malone for the ninth spot. Conveniently, the Blazers have nine games remaining in the regular season for him to achieve this.