Everyone, including Carmelo Anthony himself, acknowledges that playing for the Bulls would have been the ideal choice (basketball-wise.)
Ultimately, Melo took the New York Knicks’ money — the Knicks’ offer was about $50 million larger than what Chicago could spend — and chose to stay in Gotham for reasons beyond winning.
Anthony’s free agency decision last summer was a very difficult choice between the Windy City and NYC, and the superstar forward says it’s something he’d never want to go through again.
Per the NY Post:
The behind-the-scenes, day-by-day look at Anthony’s free-agency tour will be shown Tuesday on MSG Network. During the program titled, “Carmelo Anthony: Made In NY,” Anthony emphatically states it came down to the Knicks and Bulls. The show depicts Houston falling out of the running because of the “culture change’’ of living in Texas and the Lakers losing out because they were in a similar, rebuilding situation to the Knicks.
“It came down to Chicago and New York,” Anthony said during the program. “Chicago was the one from Day 1 [and] was something I was very impressed with. They were looking for someone like me to come in and take them to the next level. So it was perfect. […] It was a perfect setup and perfect fit for me in Chicago. But also I had to think about just living in Chicago. Do I want to live in Chicago? Do I want to take everything I created in New York and move all of that? It came down to that. But there was one point in time I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going.’”
“Although it does look greener on the other side, it’s not always greener on the other side,” he said. “It’s only couple of people in each genre who are made for New York. Whether it’s music, fashion, or sports. I’ve grown up on that concrete. There is nothing that could happen there that I wouldn’t know how to handle it. […] I was the little kid running around in the projects and not knowing what would happen next. Whether my dreams would come true. To see it full circle now, it’s a great thing for me. A fresh start, clean plate, trying to build a different culture. The past perception of the New York Knicks hasn’t been great. But now we want to change that culture.”
