This is an excerpt from Berry Tramel's Wednesday ScissorTales. Read it in its entirety here.
ESPN reported Wednesday that Carmelo Anthony is among the 2025 inductees into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, which makes Carmelo the first Thunder player who will be enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts.
He won’t be the last and it won’t be long. Thunder alums are about to flood the market. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, James Harden, Paul George. All are Springfield bound, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems almost certain to get there, too. It’s a little early before we know about Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren or any of the young brigade that has the current Thunder squad on an historic trek this season.
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Carmelo, of course, is not a vintage Thunder player. He spent only one season with Oklahoma City, 2017-18, during which he started 78 games, missed only four, and averaged 16.2 points while shooting 40.4 percent from the field. Carmelo was 33 that season and beginning his descent as an impact player.
The Thunder traded away Carmelo in summer 2018, and truth is, Carmelo’s lone OKC team would have been better off switching the minutes per game of Jerami Grant (20.3) and Carmelo (32.1).
But Carmelo was a regal NBA presence and did his best to get that Westbrook/George team on a contention path. To have Carmelo in OKC for a season was another blessing for fans and media on this remarkable NBA journey that has sprinkled gold dust on the state for going on 20 years.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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