Carmelo Anthony

He has been in relationship with La La since 2004. The couple was blessed with a son Kiyan Carmelo Anthony On March 7, 2007. The two tied the knot later on in 2010 at the Cipriani’s, New York.

Carmelo Anthony was born with a mixed heritage. While his father, Carmelo Iriarte was a Puerto Rican, his mother Mary was African American. He was the youngest of the four children born to the couple.

At the age of two, he lost his father, which put him and his siblings under the care of his mother. Six years later, the family relocated to Baltimore, little knowing the fact that neighbourhood was a drug-infested area. However, he and his siblings kept away from the wrongdoings.

Since an early age, he was fond of playing basketball. He attended the Towson Catholic High School, wherein he polished his playing skills. It was during the summer of 1999 that he experienced an unprecedented gain of height which made him one of the top players of the area.

By 2001, he was named Baltimore Sun's metro player of the year as well as Baltimore Catholic League player of the year. Throughout his high school days, he enjoyed a successful basketball career as a junior, having excellent records in scoring and rebounds.

While his extraordinary talent, strong acumen and superb height created frenzy for him among the college coaches, his poor academic records came in the way. As such, he transferred to Oak Hill Academy to better his grades.

The NBA draft of 2003 had a steam of talented players, with LeBron James topping the list. Anthony, nicknamed Melo, was in the third position. He was drafted by Denver Nuggets and made his NBA regular debut on October 29, 2003. He finished the game with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

In his sixth game as a NBA player, he created history by scoring 30 points, thus becoming the second youngest player in NBA history to score 30 points or more in a game. By 2004, he became the third-youngest player to reach the 1,000-point mark in NBA history.

Just a week after reaching the 100-mark, he scored 41 points in a match against Seattle SuperSonics, thus becoming a Denver Nuggets record holder and the second youngest player in NBA with 40 and more points. He ended up bagging all the six Rookie of the Month award

His magnificent play and knack for the game earned Nuggets a respectable position at the table. From its dismissal performance of 17-65 at the playoffs earlier on, it zoomed upscale to record a 43-39 victory in the 2003-04 season which it only improved with 49–33.

Outstanding footwork, mastery of the technique and an awe-inspiring rookie season led to his enrolment as a member of the USA Basketball National Team in 2004. He made his debut at the 2004 Athens Olympics, bagging a bronze and averaging at 2.4 points and 1.6 rebounds.

He was five times selected in the All NBA selection, twice in the second team in 2010 and 2013 and four times in the Third team in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012. Six times he was chosen as the NBA All-Star and once won the NBA Rookie Challenge MVP.

At the Olympics, his performance is commendable as he won Bronze Medal at the 2002 Junior Team and 2004 Athens Olympics. Additionally, he won two gold medals in 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.