BALTIMORE _ After a tumultuous year during which he'd been mocked as the face of a wayward NBA franchise and subjected to relentless trade rumors, Carmelo Anthony was home.
Anthony, a 10-time All-Star, did not care to discuss whether he'd be a member of the New York Knicks come the start of the 2017-2018 season. Rather, he spoke dreamily of the home runs he'd hit and the baskets he'd scored at the very same Robert C. Marshall Recreation Center in West Baltimore where he stood Wednesday morning. Around his neck he wore a medallion, given to him by Mayor Catherine Pugh for his service to the city.
One of the most dissected professional athletes in the country said he felt completely at peace.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster," he said when asked to describe the last 12 months since he won a third Olympic gold medal last summer in Rio de Janeiro. "But I've had to find peace, to come to peace with myself and the situation I'm in. Kind of try to find happiness again. I think I lost that a little bit, but I'm finding it, and it feels good."
Anthony was in town to host The Basketball Tournament, a winner-take-all event that will stage its $2 million championship game at Coppin State on Thursday evening.
As part of the event, TBT officials organized a "Day of Giving" Wednesday, featuring a job fair at Coppin and clean-up and beautification efforts at 12 sites around the city. The effort kicked off at Marshall Recreation Center, one of the places Anthony honed his skills as a Baltimore youth.
"I played on this exact field," he told a crowd of kids wearing bright green Baltimore Rec & Parks t-shirts. "I didn't have a dream then. ... But this community made me what I am."
"What you've done is help shine a national light on this city," Pugh told the former Towson Catholic star as his mother, Mary, looked on. "You didn't have to do it, but you did."
