Carmelo Anthony Says Phil Jackson 'Pushed Me Out of New York' During Knicks Exit

Former NBA star Carmelo Anthony spent six-plus seasons playing for the New York Knicks, but he still isn't over his unceremonious departure from the franchise.

Anthony addressed what led to him requesting to be traded in 2017 during a recent appearance on The Why with Dwyane Wade as a co-production of iHeartPodcasts and Wade's 59th & Prairie Entertainment (54:42 mark), and he said then-team president Phil Jackson is responsible for the contentious end to his tenure in New York.

"Bro, I don't understand this s--t, to this day I really don't understand it. There's no explanation," Anthony said. "Listen, I'm gonna try to give you this in a quick summary. When I left New York, I didn't leave New York. I got pushed out of New York, Phil [Jackson] pushed me out of New York. I struggled to leave New York."

Anthony was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2017 offseason. He expounded on what it felt like to be pushed out of New York where he was the unquestioned face of the franchise, saying he still doesn't know why Jackson and the rest of the front office made him feel unwanted.

"It took me back to [being] a kid. It took me back to s--t always being taken away from you. I did work this hard to get to this point and it's just that easy you can just take it away from me with no explanation… To this day, I don't know what the explanation is," Anthony said. "I can laugh about it now but at that point in time, that s--t was difficult to deal with because you [are] coming from All-Star… to, I can't make a nine-man roster?"

Anthony's stint in Oklahoma City lasted just one season, and it represents the start of his career decline. That was his first time averaging under 20 points in a single season, and he didn't reach that mark in any of the subsequent four years before his retirement after the 2021-22 season.

The 39-year-old explained why his run with the Thunder didn't go the way he envisioned:

"OKC, and I'll support Sam Presti to this day in whatever he want to do. He came in the 25th hour, 'Melo, we're taking you, we believe in you, you are the piece that we need in OKC… I never thought we would be in this situation to be able to have somebody like you.' … I'm like oh this is perfect… I could just play ball, I got Russ[ell Westbrook], I got PG [Paul George], I'm cool…It was slowly like pulling back on Melo… but then you ain't incorporated into the offense, you ain't part of the system, I'm asking what's going on… At this point, I was willing to change my game, I knew PG, Russ, I'm going there to figure this out with all three of us."

Anthony seems to have since repaired his relationship with the Knicks, as he has been a frequent attendee at their home games at Madison Square Garden since his retirement.