Tracy McGrady Wants Carmelo Anthony to Retire So He Can Save His Legacy

The seven-time NBA All-Star believes that Anthony should exit from the stage with grace while he still can.

melo and tmac baskeball
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Image via Getty/Garrett Ellwood

melo and tmac baskeball

NBA Hall of Fame member Tracy McGrady recently made an appearance on ESPN's The Jump, and during the interview, he spoke candidly about his feelings on Carmelo Anthony's career.

It's no secret that Anthony's tenure as a Houston Rocket did not produce favorable results. When asked about what Melo's next team should be, McGrady suggested that he should give up the game altogether. "You know what? I think Melo should just retire. I really do," he said of the current (but possibly not for much longer) Rockets forward. "I don't want him to go another situation like this, and people are just pouring out negativity on this man's legacy."

T-Mac also cites the unfavorable results produced by Anthony on his last two teams as reasons to retire. "You have the Hall of Fame career. Just go ahead and let it go," he adds.

Tracy McGrady says Carmelo Anthony should retire - for his own sake. (Interesting to note that TMac retired at 34, the same age Melo is now & has said that after spending his career as his teams' primary scorer, just hanging around in a player-coach/deep-bench role had no appeal) pic.twitter.com/kew12S9Ift

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) November 13, 2018

While the growing consensus is that Melo's best days are behind him (though a case can be made that he's still an effective player), some believe that he's still capable of outputting at an optimal level.

The thing about TM is when he retired, he was mired with injuries and seriously, just a 10% version of his prime self. But Melo is nothing like that. Melo is a lesser version of himself, but he can still play. He's still fit. Calling his retirement is nonsense.

— Saku (@Brattyneet) November 14, 2018

McGrady may be drawing a few similarities between the two. Melo is currently 34, the same age at which he retired, and also has yet to receive a championship, something T-Mac couldn't accomplish in his career as well. Still, there are others like Vince Carter who have stayed in the NBA despite their ages, so it's not unheard of for Melo to want to continue his career.

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