Earlier this year, Carmelo Anthony announced his retirement from professional basketball. Although basketball has been a major part of his life for almost two decades, over the years he has grown interested in another field as well. When he came into the league, he was not particularly excited about art. But a veteran on the Denver Nuggets showed the deeper meaning behind it to the 19-year-old rookie.

This has great significance, as now that he has learned about the industry, he has gone on to have a massive collection of his own. Currently, the global art market is worth $67.8 billion. Carmelo Anthony wants to do his part in taking it to the next level.

The Denver Nuggets drafted Carmelo Anthony in 2003. One of the best players on the team at the time was the power forward, Juwan Howard. Juwan has a great basketball mind. That is one of the reasons why he is currently the head coach of the Michigan men’s basketball team. In 2003, Carmelo looked to Juwan for guidance and leadership.

Juwan Howard instilled a love for art in Carmelo Anthony’s heart

Although Juwan was great on the floor, he influenced Melo in a different way that has stuck with Anthony for two decades now. The 10x All-Star knew the basics of art and knew the common names that people might know in the art world.

But it was Howard who made him dive deeper into the world and learn about the complete impact and relevance of art. Anthony told NY Times that since then he has been collecting art pieces.

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Currently, he has so many at home that he is not able to showcase all of them at once. Thus, he has a rotating gallery at his home. The art pieces are regularly shuffled and changed to display all of them as much as possible.

Anthony revealed that he knows the impact that high-profile players and athletes have. So when a player of his caliber is talking and promoting an art piece, it can boost the careers of the artists and, at the same time, encourage collectors to buy more.

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Carmelo knows that his talking about this will bring attention to it. He is now planning on being more vocal about this than ever before and using his platform to improve the global art market.

What do you think of Carmelo Anthony’s interest in the art world? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.