Carmelo Anthony’s team ownership aspirations start with Australia’s NBL

NEW YORK – Before former NBA star Carmelo Anthony realizes his dream of being part of NBA ownership, he is going to prepare himself for that moment by owning a pro basketball franchise in Australia and mentoring its young stars.

The National Basketball League, the top men’s pro basketball league in Australia and New Zealand, announced Monday that Anthony will become a future owner of an expansion team in the league. The 10-time NBA All-Star will also serve as a global ambassador for the NBL’s Next Stars program. Next Stars is a one-year fast-track program that has produced eight NBA draft picks since its inception in 2018, including LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey and Ousmane Dieng, and a potential 2024 No. 1 pick, Alexandre Sarr.

“It’s time that the rest of the world knows exactly what’s happening over there in Australia and the excitement from around the rest of the world that’s happening for the NBL …,” Anthony recently told Andscape at Icnclst Studios. “The NBA draft is about to happen. So, you’ll start seeing, those pipelines of players coming from the Stars program here to the NBA. There is just a lot of excitement around it. I get a chance to be a part of it in a very integral way, in a very pivotal way where we’re opening up doors and connecting players, we’re connecting the game of basketball from a global standpoint. I’m excited about it.”

The NBL was formed in 1979 and currently has nine teams in Australia and one in New Zealand. NBL president Larry Kestelman said Anthony will be a team owner at a date to be determined, and that the NBL is working with Anthony’s group to determine the best location for the team. With Anthony’s success in basketball dating back to his grassroots days, Kestelman is also intrigued by the impact Anthony could have on the Next Stars program.

Kestelman said it’s “huge statement of confidence” that Anthony is joining forces with the NBL.

“He is someone whose vision for the game is global and has influence to help young players actually succeed and get ready for the big stage of the NBA,” Kestelman said. “We’re going to work for him to look at the right place, the right team to get involved with where he can influence a lot of individuals and help them grow and mentor them on their pathway through to the NBA. Couldn’t be more excited.”

Anthony, a Baltimore native who is Afro Latino, believes that his experience owning a NBL team will benefit him once he is a part of an NBA ownership group. Other current and former NBA players who have ownership with NBL teams include Khris Middleton, Dante Exum, Zach Randolph, John Wall, Josh Childress, Al Harrington, Matt Walsh, Shawn Marion, Kevin Martin, Thaddeus Young, Andrew Bogut, Kenny Smith and Luc Longley.

The NBA is currently considering adding two expansion teams in the coming years. The NBA lost its only African American majority owner after Michael Jordan sold his interest in the Charlotte Hornets. Anthony expects former NBA stars who are African American to be involved in NBA team ownership.

“Now. I want it now,” Anthony said when asked about wanting to get involved in NBA ownership. “And that’s something that I’m working towards as we speak. So, I’m actually excited about those opportunities.”

Anthony took part in a Q&A with Andscape in which he delves into his hopes as an NBL Next Stars ambassador, how he is guiding his son, Kiyan, a national prospect in the Class of 2025, his numerous endeavors in retirement, his favorite young players in the NBA, the state of America’s grassroots basketball and much more.

What do you bring as an ambassador to the NBL?

I’ll be bringing innovative ways to enhance the sport, to enhance the team, to enhance just the game of basketball globally. I will bring insight on being a professional for 20 years. Understanding the game, the business of the game, inside out.

There are a lot of different pathways and doors that I’ll be able to open up not just here in America when it comes to the NBL, but also in other places around the world.

What intrigued you about getting ownership and also being an ambassador for Next Stars?

Ownership for one. Ownership, that’s the ticket. How can I become an owner in the sport that I’ve been playing for a long time? There’s also the relationships. It’s also being able to globalize the game of basketball in a way that we haven’t seen yet. What we see right now from the game of basketball is very minor in what this game looks like from a global situation. And we talk about NBL in Australia. We are talking about EuroLeague and other leagues around the world that have grown. And they are growing and growing.

So, you’re going to start to see people gravitating towards the NBL and what we are actually building over there. And there’s not many of us [African Americans] in ownership seats, in the ownership group being able to have impact in these organizations. A lot of times we get in and it’s just a small percentage [of ownership] or you just don’t have anything to show for it.

You’re getting an NBL expansion team that you’re building from scratch? Is that daunting? Attractive? What does it mean to you?

It’s fun because now I really get to, at that level, get a chance to build it from the ground up. I get a chance to build it and utilize everything that I’ve learned as a player and implement that now as an owner. So, it’s a different seat. It’s a different hat that I have to wear.

But it’s a fun hat and I’m looking forward to really blowing this thing up and expanding it and allowing people to see exactly what we want them to see, which is the development of players, not just here in the U.S., but around the world. Also, allowing the guys to understand what it is to come over here to play in the U.S., to play in the NBA, to play in college, because there’s a big difference. Either way you go is major because it’s a huge culture shock.

There are several former NBA players who are involved in ownership in the NBL. Did you talk to any of them? Do they have any influence in you getting involved?

I haven’t spoken to none of those guys. Some of those guys were early [in Australia], there years ago. And you hear about it, ‘Australia, huh? I don’t really know, what’s happening over there.’ You get more intrigued by what you are hearing as opposed to just saying I want to be a part of. So, over the years, you hear more and more about what’s happening over there and guys that went over there to play,

One of my best friends, [Dontaye] Draper, played over there in Australia. He was always telling me Australia is the next hotbed. So, he was always giving me that information. And now the energy behind the NBL, this Australian league, these are young guys actually coming up that have a chance to make the NBA. So, I have to pay attention to that, especially with me being in the thick of things when it comes to development of the game of basketball at an elite level.

The NBA is about 75% Black players. Majority ownership for African Americans is non-existent. As a future Hall of Famer, what thoughts come to mind and are you getting any inspiration from that?

I’m very inspired. I’m going to answer that question first. I’m very inspired, to get into ownership, especially NBA ownership. As far as you know, not many of us being in those seats in those ownership groups, I think we’re going to start seeing that change. As athletes, we’re becoming a lot more powerful in having empowerment, impact and access now.

The amount of money in the culture we’re in is allowing us to be able to mingle with those guys and have these conversations. And doors are actually starting to open because, for one, now they’re not seeing us as just an athlete or just a basketball player no more. Now, what you do once you get in those rooms, it’s up to you. But I do think those doors are about to start opening. I just think you are going to start seeing more and more of us in those positions to have say-so to run our own teams.

How does the experience you’re going to gain from the NBL ultimately help you in getting NBA ownership?

Well, it’s definitely parallel paths. The NBL when Larry took that over, he was able to create the energy and just the business and the sustainability of that league. I look at that as inspiration and motivation because there’s a lot of people who don’t know that, who don’t know what’s happening on that side of the world.

So, if I can get in and allow myself to start from the bottom, to understand how the business really works in another part of the world — coming back to the U.S. I already know this game. I already know this industry, this business, and I’m learning day to day. So, my goal is to help develop all over the world and then try to bring everything together where it makes sense.

How are you guiding your son Kiyan through his high school basketball career and with what can potentially come? (ESPN 100 ranks Kiyan Anthony as the 45th best high school basketball player in the Class of 2025.)

I’m taking it day to day. For one, I’m allowing the information, the access and the landscape to play itself out where he can just play basketball and have fun. That’s my thing: I want him to enjoy this moment. He’s supposed to be enjoying high school. He’s supposed to be enjoying AAU. He’s supposed to enjoying being a 16-, 17-year-old kid. Basketball, the business side of it, shouldn’t weigh more than the love of it. What he has done now is he has actually fallen in love with the game of basketball.

A lot of people’s motivation is money. That’s unfortunate. But it’s also fortunate, too. In those situations, I had to say, ‘I got to get out of [Baltimore].’ My situation was different. That was motivational. It was unfortunate that was what I had to do to get out, but it was fortunate that I had something to actually look forward to. Him, that is not his why. He has a different why. You don’t have to deal with the things that I had to deal with.

So, does that lessen the burden on you to where you can just go play basketball? You know you got somebody on that side, with me and your mom, that is not going to let from a business side off the court affect anything on the court.

When did you know he loved the game?

There are different levels of love in the game. You love the game when you first pick a basketball up. ‘Oh, I love it.’ You get to throw it anywhere you want. Then you go to camp for the first time. ‘Oh, I love this. I love this game.’ You get to dribble and I get to just throw up shots. And when s— gets real, what’s your love?

When you are not winning games or you are losing and all pressure is on you to lead your team, that’s a different love that you get from the adversity that you got to face. So right now is where I’m starting to see like, OK, he loves the game. He wants to work out. Every day he’s locked-in. He’s calling me. He’s making his schedule. So, when you start doing that, you start stepping up. And that shows me that you’re starting to fall in love with the process.

What do you think about the young, rising NBA stars today? It seems like the torch that you were part of is being passed.

I love it. [The torch] should be passed. We can’t hold onto them torches. The torch got to be passed at some point. So, I just love the fact that there’s young stars that you can pass the torch to. And feel good about where things are going. We can exit ourselves out of situation and stop saying, ‘It should be like this because when I played.’ No. We got to leave that mentality now. What we are seeing now is incredible for right now. It is totally different from when we came in.

So, we can’t be mad at or bitter towards what is happening today. We got to embrace that because that’s what we want wanted. We fought for the evolution of the game of basketball. And now you’ve seen them take what we had and really have access, opportunities and self-empowerment. And they can do whatever they want to do today.

What young NBA player do you love watching the most?

I enjoy all of them. I still consider Ja Morant a young guy. I love watching Ja. Anthony Edwards. [Jayson] Tatum is still considered young. Devin Booker is [27]. They are the young guys. We just get so caught up on the rookies in the second year, third year. But those guys are still in that bucket.

Those younger guys, they right around the corner if not neck and neck with some of those other guys. Anthony Edwards is incredible. I love watching Jalen Brunson as a young guy. [Tyrese] Haliburton, I love. [Haliburton] might be one of my favorites in the NBA right now.”

I’ve been enjoying your entrepreneurial moves. The wine. The commercials. The investments. Entertainment and production. Wellness. A podcast. You’re a father. How do you balance all this?

It’s not hard because it’s intentional. And it’s a strategy, right? And it all plays a part of one whole ecosystem. And when it’s a part of the plan, it’s not hard to navigate. And when it’s not part of the plan, you got to start going outside that plan to navigate. That’s when things get misconstrued or lines get blurred. I like to do things that I like to do. I like to work on things I like to work on. And if it’s not, I don’t do it.

So, everything that I do from the wine to the production to the lifestyle, Stay Melo, to cannabis, to commercials, that’s also a part of the strategy around it. If we’re going to tap back into doing these endorsements, let it be a part of the strategy. Let it be a part of what we are actually building. So even though there are commercials and ‘Melo is in all the commercials now,’ that’s all part of the strategy. And hopefully one day you actually get to see the whole strategy and you will do well.

A parent calls and he is thinking about putting their son in Next Stars, what is your sales pitch?

My pitch is, ‘What’s your goal? What do you want out of this? Are you strictly basketball-minded? Are you willing to have a culture change?’ You have to want to do that at 17, 18 years old to leave the U.S. to go to Australia and take that chance. You have to be a different type of breed to want to do that. You have to have a different focus.

So that’s telling me that you really want to focus on development and getting better at your game, and you’re willing to take that chance. Now if you’re wavering, don’t even think about it because it’s not going to benefit you and it’s not going to benefit us. That is the real conversation that needs to be happening that is not. You have no real conversations because you still got to deal with life issues once you get over there.

Are you going to want to come by yourself? You got to trust the organization. You have to trust people. You 17, 18. You don’t know how to trust people. My experience brings that to the table. And I’ll be very blunt, very honest about those situations. Kids may come to me and say, ‘Hey, Melo, what you think about this kid?’ ‘He’s super-talented. He’s super-good. He could help us.’ But I don’t think he’s ready for this because this is different, man. It’s different. It’s not this U.S. experience of growing up in AAU. Once you get off that plane, it is about business. Are you ready to be a professional athlete at that point in time?

What kind of selling points do alumni LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey and Alex Sarr give the Next Stars program?

People may have questions about it, but it is proven. Josh Giddey is a major part of what OKC is doing. LaMelo Ball is one of the biggest superstars because of that. And he went over there and got a different mentality, different mindset, and brought that back to the U.S. So, he can say he did it. He has that experience and look at him, right? Alex Sarr is a projected No. 1 draft pick. He put the work in. He went over there and committed to being over there and put the work in and had a goal. His only one goal was to come back to the NBA draft. It’s proven. I don’t know how you cannot support them.

What do you think about the state of American youth basketball right now?

There’s so much access and so many resources. Everybody wants to try to do it on their own. Everybody’s becoming a trainer. Everybody’s becoming the development guy. Personal training is a major, major business right now. People can get real jobs off of it and make real living off of it. But what ends up happening is there’s no more development. You don’t have organizations to go to [for development]. You got to go to individuals now.

You can’t go to an AAU organization like we did back in the day. And we didn’t have the Nike circuit and this circuit and that circuit where you had the best players. You all came together and played. We just got to get out of how it used to be, like in our mindset, and figure out how it should be. What’s the new way of doing this? I think the new way of doing it, everybody is going to sit down at the table. We got to have a godfather conversation. You got to have Nike, you got to have Adidas at the table. You got to have USA Basketball. You got to have OTE [Overtime Elite]. You got to have NBL. You got to have EuroLeague.

You got to have everybody at the table because if everybody has the same mindset of growing this game globally, it’s got to work together. One hand has to be the other. You can’t have, for an example, EYBL [Elite Youth Basketball League] and Peach Jam sessions the same time as NBA summer league. That doesn’t make any type of sense at all. And that’s just one small concept off the top of my head. But in order for this to happen — for AAU to get back that good aura, that positivity — everybody has to come to the table, and there [has to be] some type of structure that needs to happen where everything is supporting one another where it’s 360 all year long and everybody is a part of it.

I know that I’m making it sound easy. It’s not easy. But there’s a lot of powers that be that can change grassroots basketball.