Carmelo Anthony says he’s done talking about the New York Knicks, but he does have some good advice for Kristaps Porzingis.
Anthony embraced his mythical side after his new side, the Oklahoma City Thunder, beat his former team to open the 2017 season on Thursday night. Anthony scored 22 points and the work-in-progress triumvirate of Anthony, Paul George and Russell Westbrook appeared to take positive steps against the hapless Knicks.
But one New York player did shine like a mythical creature, and Anthony said the key for Porzingis moving forward is to embrace his “unicorn” status and become the franchise player many in New York hope he is.
Anthony told Newsday on Thursday night just that, expressing optimism for the Knicks young superstar.
“You’re there. You’re the unicorn. You’ve got to embrace it,” Anthony told the media after the Thunder win. “You’ve got to understand what it’s about, what’s going to happen, whether good or bad, and be ready for it.”
His use of “unicorn” here is interesting, and it does highlight just how unique Porzingis is on the Knicks’ current roster. It’s a team in transition, and he’s one of the few players operating at an elite level that fans expect to be around long-term. Whether that works out for everyone is tough to say after the chaos that’s filled the Knicks the past few months, but Anthony says it’s up to Porzingis to become the man in New York.
“We shall see,” Anthony said. “This is a big, big year for him. Even last year and the year before, he had pieces, a couple pieces around that can kind of shelter him a little bit. Even when things weren’t going good for him, I would always take the blame and take the pressure off of him. Now he almost is, I don’t want to say forced to take on that role, but it’s there. He has to take on that role. He has to embrace that role. He has to be ready for what’s in front of him.”
Porzingis and Anthony got along in New York, and it’s nice to see an older former player saying nice things about a budding star. There are plenty of people upset with the Knicks about how things have gone there the last few seasons, but it’s tough to find people not genuinely rooting for Porzingis to thrive in the NBA.
