Carmelo Anthony Says He's a Better Scorer Than LeBron James, Stephen Curry

New York Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony has never lacked self-confidence, and that was evident Thursday when he made a lofty declaration on The Dan Patrick Show.

According to the show's Andrew Perloff, Melo called himself a better scorer than both Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors:

Melo is a nine-time All Star and has long been considered one of the league's elite scorers, but he put up just 21.8 points per game for the struggling Knicks this past year. That was his lowest average since the 20.8 per contest in 2004-05, his second season in the league.

Here's a breakdown of how Anthony compared to James and Curry in terms of scoring in 2015-16, as well as over their careers:

Player	2015-16 PPG	Career PPG	Scoring Titles
Carmelo Anthony	21.8	24.9	1
LeBron James	25.3	27.2	1
Stephen Curry	30.1	22.4	1

LeBron and Steph handily outscored Carmelo this season. The Knicks leader also has a worse career scoring average than James, and although he is ahead of Curry in that regard, that is largely because the reigning MVP didn't truly come into his own as a scorer until his fourth NBA season.

Anthony has been on a scoring level similar to LeBron and Steph for much of his career, but his numbers are declining, and he has no team-wide success to show for it.

New York went a disappointing 32-50 this season, while James and Curry led their teams to No. 1 playoff seeds.

LeBron and Steph are NBA champions as well, while Melo has advanced past the first round of the playoffs just twice in his career.

Anthony's belief that he is a better scorer than the NBA's top two players doesn't ring true in its own right, but it would be a fairly empty accomplishment regardless because of his lack of success on the big stage. 

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