Carmelo Anthony: I Wanted That 'Challenge' Of The Knicks, Implying Durant and Kyrie Didn't

Melo spent seven seasons in New York. KD and Kyrie are now in NYC too, except not at Madison Square Garden with the Knicks.

Carmelo Anthony is a 10-time NBA All-Star. The 2013 scoring champion spent seven seasons with the New York Knicks, setting a single-game scoring record dropping 62 versus the Charlotte Hornets on January 24, 2014.

Now a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, Anthony recently spoke about wanting to embrace the challenge of coming to the media capital of the world, New York City, and playing for the Knicks.

As it's well documented now, superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving also chose to come to play in the Big Apple, except they chose the Brooklyn Nets over the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.

"I wanted it," Anthony told the New York Daily News' Stefan Bondy. "It was something I wanted. I wanted to take that challenge on. Whether I failed at it or not I wanted to be able to say that I did it," Anthony said in a candid interview Sunday night. "I took it upon myself to say, 'Get me there.' I wanted that challenge. Not everybody has that same mentality."

He requested to be dealt to the Knicks and was traded right before the 2011 NBA Trade Deadline in a three-team, 13 player deal with the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Melo continued: "I don't think it surprised me (that Durant and Irving didn't want to play for the Knicks). We all read Durant's quotes. We know what he said," Anthony said. "Whether you agree with him or not, that just goes to show you people have different perspectives about it. It's not always — 'Oh, that's the Knicks and we're going to get somebody, it's a guarantee.' Nowadays players are not thinking about that. Players want to be able to go to a situation where they can enjoy it, have fun and not have to deal with that."

Part of what made Melo's decision so unique was Anthony, unlike many free-agent superstars today, didn't care about teaming up with another player. He wanted to play for the Knicks and if another player wanted to join Anthony, they'd have to come with him.

The Knicks were never able to attract a true star running-mate for Anthony, except for the injury-prone Amare Stoudemire, whose body was breaking down shortly after the two joined forces in Manhattan.

Through 12 games with the Portland Trail Blazers this season, Anthony is averaging 16.3 points per game and 5.9 rebounds.