Carmelo Anthony has put together a Hall of Fame worth resume over his 17-year career in the NBA.
A 10-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA performer, a scoring title in 2012-13 and more. But there's one thing that has eluded Anthony his entire career — a championship ring. Anthony has never even had a chance at playing for a ring.
Talking to Dwayne Wade on Instagram Live, Melo and Wade discussed a handful of topics that included what would have happened if Anthony had been selected by the Detroit Pistons in the 2003 NBA Draft.
"No matter how much we look at the way the draft was or who went where it all played out to what it was supposed to be," Anthony told Wade. "Everything that we’ve done or we’ve went through has played out for us in some shape or form throughout our life, especially now.
"I don’t know what I would have been if I had went to Detroit. I know I would have had two, maybe two or three rings."
Melo says he probably would’ve had 2 or 3 rings if he got drafted by Detroit pic.twitter.com/ayPPcy76P1
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) March 27, 2020
The Pistons held the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. They had originally received the pick after trading Otis Thorpe to the then Vancouver Grizzlies in the summer of 1997.
Years later the Pistons was had just come off a 50-win season and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance were at the podium with a chance to select Melo who had just led Syracuse to the NCAA National Title as a freshman. With a young Richard Hamilton and a promising rookie Tayshaun Prince already on the team, the Piston opted for size and went for little known Darko Miličić.
Miličić would only appear in 34 games in his rookie year with very little contribution to speak of, but it didn't matter as the Pistons claimed their third NBA title in franchise history defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the Finals.
Miličić would only be in Detroit for three seasons and would eventually play on five more teams never really amounting to much in the league. The Pistons have yet to win another title.
Would adding Melo instead of Miličić have given the Pistons another title during the early 2000s? We'll never know, but Anthony certainly believes so.
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