Hours before suiting up in the black and red, the Portland Trail Blazers formally announce that Carmelo Anthony will wear double zeros on his back.
The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. Can Carmelo Anthony bounce back from near banishment from the NBA and erase his past demons to help the Portland Trail Blazers correct a shaky start to their 2019-20 season?
Well, if his chosen jersey number is any indication, maybe he channel the power of a Rip City legend to become a key piece of this current roster.
Many people speculated that Carmelo would hold on tight to the number seven — his former jersey number — but he opted to forego that, potentially to avoid dishonoring Brandon Roy‘s legacy and respect the fan’s wishes to retire that number.
Instead, Melo selected the number 00. Perhaps this is paying attribute to Damian Lillard and his single 0. Maybe it indicates Anthony is making a symbolic gesture and telling everyone that he’s finally willing to put “team” above “me”. We may never know for sure, but what we do know is that this particular number is drenched in Trail Blazers history.
From 1986 to 1993, Kevin Duckworth proudly donned the double zeros for Portland. In his seven seasons here, Duckworth averaged 14.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. His efforts earned him a Most Improved Player Award (1988) and a pair of appearances at the All-Star Game (1989 and 1991). In the latter year, he joined Clyde “the Glide” Drexler and Terry Porter as Portland’s All-Star representatives.
Together, they would form Portland’s own Three Musketeers, and advanced to the playoffs in all seven seasons they played together — including two trips to the NBA Finals. While they would be successful in neither trip, the team managed to post the most wins in franchise history in 1990-91 (with a record of 63-19) and tied for second-most in 1989-90 (59-23).
Duckworth immortalized himself in those years with the team, but truly earned his status as a franchise legend in the years that came after his retirement. He returned to Oregon after his playing days concluded and became a Heritage Ambassador for the Trail Blazers organization.
The week of his death in August, 2008, Duckworth was working with the Trail Blazers in Portland to host a free basketball clinic for children. Since then, foundations and memorial scholarships have been established in Duckworth’s name to keep giving back to the community.
Simply put, Carmelo has very big shoes to fill with the decision to wear this number. While choosing a number may seem like a trivially small decision, Portland basketball is a tight-knit community with a rich history. Let’s just hope Melo can do the number justice — we’ll certainly need him to.