Carmelo Anthony Reveals Playing Through Injury, 2015 Surgery Changed His Jump Shot

Former NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony revealed Thursday that he was forced to change his jump shot from one foot to two feet after going through season-ending left knee surgery in February 2015.

Anthony dropped that news on the latest edition of 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment:

Anthony noted that he played through pain to participate in the 2015 All-Star Game, which was in New York. But with the Knicks floundering en route to a 17-65 season, Anthony understandably shut it down. Melo provided more details alongside co-host The Kid Mero and show guest, Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges.

"So look, I was really f--ked up though," Anthony said. "I was playing the season damn near limping on one leg and we was trash. We was losing so I'm like yo you know what…so I played in the All-Star game when I wasn't supposed to play and then I played a couple weeks after that. I kept going.

"I'll tell you why I kept going. I kept going and I played and I'm like there's no way we [the Knicks] got a chance, I'm just going to [stop playing]. I got tired of being the hero. I don't want nobody saying I'm quitting on the team. I know New York, I know the fans, we [were] already losing, [they would say] Melo [is] quitting. So I'm just going to play it through. So to answer your question, I had that surgery and that made me start playing off two [feet]."

Despite playing through injury, Anthony still got buckets, averaging a team-high 24.2 PPG.

Remarkably, Anthony was a more efficient shooter post-surgery and during the back half of his career.

Per Basketball Reference, Anthony shot 45.5 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from three from 2003 to 2015.

From 2015-2022, Anthony made 42.6 percent of his shots, but he actually fared better from the three-point line (36.8 percent). He was also better in terms of effective field goal percentage as well, post-surgery (49.1 percent to 48.3 percent).

Anthony ultimately played 19 NBA seasons, averaging 22.5 PPG and making 10 All-Star teams and six All-NBA teams.