Carmelo Anthony Damian Lillard
Photo: David Zalubowski/Associated Press

Carmelo Anthony had nothing but good words to say about the Portland Trail Blazers and praised the franchise for giving him the opportunity to return to the NBA.

Anthony said Portland gave him the chance to play ‘right away’, because they knew he could be a game changer for the team.

“Portland was real solid. They brought me in and I played right away. And that’s all I ever wanted to do was just hoop, man, I love to hoop. I wanted to be on the court.

Then, I’m playing with Dame, I’m playing with CJ, they opened they arms, they opened they city, their organization, so I had to be loyal to those guys. Like, I’m gonna give you what I got.

Dame is a real one because Dame always knew like, ‘Man we don’t care about what nobody else is saying. We know you can play. I know you can play. I see you. I talk to you.’ So when you get somebody like that, rocking with you, it makes that situation easier,” Anthony said on a recent episode of the All The Smoke podcast, via Marlow Ferguson Jr. of Blazer’s Edge.

After two seasons with the Blazers, Carmelo Anthony signed an one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason.