On Saturday, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard were announced as members of the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025. The duo will also be inducted as members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, dubbed the “Redeem Team.”
Melo’s stats speak for themselves. After winning a national title with Syracuse, Anthony became one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history and one of the most accomplished FIBA players ever. Along with leading the NBA in scoring in 2013, Anthony made six All-NBA teams and was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
While he spent the first seven and a half seasons of his NBA career with the Denver Nuggets, he also spent six and a half years with the New York Knicks. He left New York seventh in scoring (10,186), third in scoring average (24.7), and set the franchise single-game scoring record (64).
By all accounts, Anthony was one of the greatest players in Knicks history. But was he a Top-5 Knick of all time?
It wasn’t even a question for Peter Rosenberg on Thursday’s episode of First Take.
“I don’t really see where you’d go,” Rosenberg said regarding ranking Melo. “[Walt] Frazier, [Willis] Reed, [Patrick] Ewing, Melo. I think he’s a Top-4 Knick.”
Stephen A. Smith took it a step further and said he’s put Anthony in the Top 3 of all time, though he didn’t exactly make it clear which of the aforementioned Knicks greats would be leapfrogged.
Frequent First Take guest and yelling enthusiast Chris Russo took issue with Smith’s assessment of Anthony’s place in Knicks lore. And as only he can, he had the names of Knicks players past to back himself up.
Mad Dog Russo gets on @stephenasmith for saying that Carmelo Anthony is a top-3 Knicks player of all time. pic.twitter.com/hIxdsbTGz2
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) April 5, 2025
“I love Steven A, but here’s another thing that drove me crazy, and I wish I was on, I could fight with him on it. You can’t put Carmelo Anthony as the third-greatest Knick of all time,” said Russo on his SiriusXM show. “Are you kidding me?
“He forgot about Dave DeBusschere, who won two championships. Carmelo Anthony is not a patch on Dave DeBusschere’s rear-end as far as the Knick fan is concerned. Plus, don’t forget about Earl Monroe. Don’t forget about Richie Guerin way back when. Dick McGuire. Carl Braun.
“Jeez, it is not Carmelo Anthony, who didn’t win diddily as a Knick.”
All due respect to Mad Dog, but he’s gonna have a hard time convincing many NBA fans under the ago of 60 they need to fight to ensure Richie Guerin, Dick McGuire, and Carl Braun get their flowers on First Take. That said, he’s got a good point about Dave DeBusschere and Earl Monroe, both of whom played on the 1973 NBA championship team. As he noted, DeBusschere, who played six seasons for the Knicks, won two titles with the franchise.
Ultimately, it’s a fun exercise where the outcome depends on what you value most (and likely includes a whole lot of recency bias). It’s fair to say Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Patrick Ewing are untouchable on this topic. The debate becomes who else makes the all-time Top 5: DeBusschere, Anthony, Monroe, Braun, or Allan Houston (4th in franchise scoring all-time).
The really fun question is, what would be easier for die-hard fan Smith: Naming the five best Knicks ever or the current starting five?
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.