5 Reasons Why Carmelo Anthony is OKC's Kryptonite

#2 Defensive liability

Carmelo is one of the slower players on the Thunder roster when it comes to the defensive side of things. As a result of this, opposition players find it rather easy to drive past him to the bucket, scoring 29.6 points in the paint per game against him.

Anthony's defensive rating for the season is 105.6, which is the worst in terms of all frontcourt players on the OKC roster. He is not very efficient at preventing a switch-play either, as ball handlers find it rather easy to get rid of him through screens.

Explore the NBA Draft 2024 with our free NBA Mock Draft Simulator & be the GM of your favorite NBA team.

While Andre Roberson, arguably Oklahoma City's best defensive player was able to fill in for Melo's shortcomings, his season-ending injury against the Detroit Pistons has left a crackable opening in Thunder's defense.

About the author

Raunak has been associated with Sportskeeda for over three years now, mainly contributing articles for basketball, football and cricket. He has interviewed multiple NBA personalities in the process, including Sacramento Kings player Harrison Barnes and Toronto Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia among others.

A sports enthusiast in general, Raunak supports Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. An ardent follower of pro wrestling, he has only recently started writing about WWE. When not consuming sports content, Raunak can be found listening to audiobooks or binging crime dramas.

Know More

Trail Blazers Nation! You can check out the latest Portland Trail Blazers Schedule and dive into the Trail Blazers Depth Chart for NBA Season 2024-25.

Edited by Yash Matange