A forgettable, drama-filled season from the last term did a lot of damage on new Houston Rockets recruit Carmelo Anthony’s otherwise stellar NBA career. However, despite a seemingly horrendous season from Anthony last year, he was still able to break into the top 25 of the all-time scoring list of the league. This year, he can further make his mark on the record books by overtaking yet another legend’s scoring tally — Paul Pierce’s 26,397 career points.
As pointed out by Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo! Sports, Anthony’s 1,261 points scored last season brought up his career total to 25,417. This puts him at 19th overall in the all-time leaderboard — just 980 points behind Pierce who is currently ranked at 15th. Between them are Alex English, Kevin Garnett, and John Havlicek — all of whom Anthony can pass this coming season.
Anthony’s average of 16.2 points per ballgame last season was his career-low. In fact, this is the first time in his career that he averaged less than 20 points in a season. Now looking at a reduced role with the Rockets, it would not be surprising if Anthony’s numbers drop even further.
Nevertheless, Anthony needs to average just 14 points in at least 70 contests to overtake Pierce this coming season. This is certainly feasible for the 34-year-old who is just one season removed from being the number one option of the New York Knicks.
Many have criticized Anthony for allegedly damaging the chemistry of OKC last season. He acquired even more detractors following his money-making moves this summer. Nonetheless, Anthony remains to be a very potent scorer who has already established himself as one of the all-time bests.
The post Carmelo Anthony could move past Paul Pierce in career scoring list next season appeared first on ClutchPoints.
