Some haters like to tear Melo down for not being a ‘winner.’ Carmelo Anthony may not have NBA championships but how many NBA stars have three golds and multiple all-time Team USA records across four Olympic appearances? It’s hard to imagine that it came close to not happening. After three Olympic campaigns, he was ready to wrap up when the fears and pressure took over. With his son, Kiyan, a top prospect with those scoring genes, and his old friend Paul George on his podcast, Anthony got personal about his feelings during his last international game.

He made his Olympic debut in 2004 after his rookie season. Pushing the embarrassment of that year behind, Melo’s heroics in the Redeem Team won the gold in 2008 and again in 2012. This paralleled a decorated NBA career and a severe physical toll. Kiyan was born in 2007 and was a little too young to understand that his dad was considering leaving the 2016 squad. But Melo got candid with him about it now.

“After ’12 I was done, honestly,” Anthony confessed, via the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. “I was done. I was battling with injuries that people didn’t know.” In 2013, the Knicks star suffered a labrum and rotator cuff tear in his left shoulder, his non-shooting arm. In 2014, he suffered a labrum tear in his right shoulder too. That put his season in jeopardy, let alone the Olympics. Moreover, he feared that he’d be able to recreate his past Olympic success. He said, “What we just created from ‘ 07 to 2012 that took time and effort. Am I going to get that same experience on this ’16 team so that’s what I was thinking about.”

The 10x All-Star was leading the league in scoring. He retired last year as one of the top 10 scorers in NBA history. And he’s second to Kevin Durant in Team USA’s all-time scoring list with 336 points. We can’t picture the 2016 squad without Melo. Even PG said so.

When he was considering leaving Team USA, ‘everyone’ said “Come on” which translated to ‘you have to do it.’ We know how history went. Melo played in Rio, won the gold, and contrary to what he feared, he had “one of the greatest experience”. But a little more background was in play in his decision-making.

Melo was the man of the ’16 squad

The 2016 squad didn’t have LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade. Melo would be Team USA’s best chance without them. Leading up to the Rio Games in fact, there was a lot of speculation if he’d sit it out with the rest of the ‘Banana Boat Crew.’ But the players heading to Rio, including PG-13, wanted him to be the leader of the team.

“They were saying, ‘it’s your time, your Olympics, you should take advantage of this opportunity,'” Melo said in 2016. The squad also had his Syracuse coach, Jim Boeheim as an assistant coach. His presence was good encouragement if any.

Anthony’s fears were for nothing. He ended up becoming Team USA’s all-time leading scorer (before KD dethroned him) in Rio. George said they had an inside joke that this Olympic run would be Melo’s ‘farewell tour.’ But, he was ecstatic to have Anthony on the team. Melo would skip the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and retire in 2023, without NBA rings but as the most decorated Team USA player.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us in the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.