Hawks Joke About TikTok Ban with Photo of Carmelo Anthony Jersey from 2018 Trade

The Atlanta Hawks poked fun at the brief TikTok ban, using Carmelo Anthony's short 2018 stint with the team to draw a parallel to the situation.

Anthony was famously traded to the Hawks from the Oklahoma City Thunder after the 2018 season, only for Atlanta to buy out his contract before he ever suited up for the team. This made his stint with the Hawks a mere footnote in his career.

Despite this, the Hawks still made an Anthony jersey and posted the threads on social media with the caption, "Hey @carmeloanthony your jersey is on it's way...good luck, fam!"

Instead, Anthony joined the Houston Rockets that summer, where he played just 10 games and averaged 13.4 points. The following year, he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers for two seasons before wrapping up his career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021-22.

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, shut down the app in the United States just hours before Sunday's deadline after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning it over concerns about its ties to China.

The shutdown sent social media into a frenzy, though it was short-lived. TikTok was back online in the U.S. on Sunday, with the company announcing its return in a social media statement.