The Melo story: 5 wrong turns in Carmelo Anthony's career

#5 Joining the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017

Oklahoma City Thunder v Charlotte Hornets

If at all Anthony was to boost his chances of winning a championship in 2017-18, waiving his no-trade clause to depart for Oklahoma City was not the best he could have done. The Thunder had already traded for Paul George, who would have been a clear-cut second option given his form in 2016-17 with the Indiana Pacers.

Anthony became a spot-up shooter with the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose offense took about 2 months to get into gear last season. This turned Anthony into a spot-up shooter by and large, and this is not a role that he'd done well in 14 years of playing isolation-dominant offense. He needed to get enough shots in every game before getting into a rhythm, and this caused the Thunder offense to stutter when Andre Roberson went down with an injury.

The Thunder managed only one win more in both the regular season as well as the playoffs. Anthony was traded to the Hawks, who waived him in order to enable him to join the Rockets for this season. Only time will tell if this will turn out better for him than his stint at Oklahoma City.