At 36, Carmelo Anthony is among the oldest players in the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
The 10-time All-Star forward made his return to the league with the Portland Trail Blazers and, in a new role, has chipped in with some big threes in key moments, like the ones he hit against the Memphis Grizzlies in the Play-in game and against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of this postseason.
Thus, he has become an important member of Terry Stotts' perimeter rotation. Another player of vast importance in the team's rotation is Gary Trent Jr., much younger (21 years old) than Anthony but who has also shown himself to be dangerous with the long ball.
The second-year guard shot 41.8 percent from deep in the 2019-2020 season.
Without Trevor Ariza (35) in Orlando, Anthony is the Blazers' most experienced player when it comes to the playoffs, this being his 12th trip to the postseason. He has played in more postseasons than any of his teammates have played in full NBA campaigns.
Damian Lillard, the most experienced player from the rest of the roster, is in his eighth year in the league.
The funny thing is that Anthony's first four playoff games, back in 2004 when he was a rookie and already the superstar on the Denver Nuggets, were against the father of one of his current teammates. This is proof of Melo's longevity in the league, currently in his 17th season.
In the First Round of the 2004 playoffs, the Nuggets were facing the West's top seed in the Minnesota Timberwolves, a squad led by Kevin Garnett and coached by Flip Saunders. At the bottom of Timberwolves' rotation was 29-year-old Gary Trent, who was not quite old but in his final year in the league. He was relegated to the role of back-up forward behind Ervin Johnson, Michael Olowakandi and Mark Madsen.
Yes, father of the current Blazers' wing - Gary Trent Jr..
The Timberwolves, not surprisingly, won the series 4-1. They only lost Game 3 on the road in Denver.
Melo, who was coming off a great rookie season with 21.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game on 42.6% shooting from the field at age 19, finished with averages of 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds on 32.8% shooting from the field in the first playoffs of his career.
He shot 1-of-16 from the field in Game 4, an 84-82 loss for the Nuggets that practically sealed the series. Anthony would go on to miss Game 5 with a sprained left knee.
On the other hand, Trent Sr., only played eight minutes the entire series. He contributed two points, a rebound, and an assist, playing garbage time minutes in the first four games. Even he didn't see any minutes in Game 5 of the series.
Before this series, in the 2003-04 regular season, Anthony and Trent Sr. faced-off in four games. The Nuggets won just once with Anthony averaging 15.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists at 36.3 minutes while Trent Sr. averaged 6.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and an assist in 11.0 minutes.
While Anthony began his NBA career, Trent Sr. brought the curtains on his. He had been a rotation player in the late 1990s, having played 192 games in Portland, 89 in Dallas, 13 in Toronto, and 212 in Minnesota in the regular season, with averages of 8.6 points and 4.5 rebounds throughout his NBA career.
For the 2004-05 season, he went to European Basketball. He performed for Panellinios in Greece and Lottomatica Roma in Italy, before closing out his professional career in 2007 back with Panellinios.
With such a good performance in the "bubble", his son's career seems to be more promising.
The Trent family is not one that has had two generations compete with/against Anthony. He has also competed against Gary Payton and Gary Payton II, Glen Rice and Glen Rice Jr., Rick Brunson and Jalen Brunson and Glenn Robinson and Glenn Robinson III, and four other parent-child pairs.
Longevity.
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