"Everyone wasn't a fan of him being the new star" — when Amar’e Stoudemire appeared to take a shot at Carmelo Anthony amid Linsanity jealousy rumors
Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire
© Matthew Emmons - USA TODAY Sports
To this day, it’s unclear who squashed Linsanity. There are rumors that forces within the Knicks organization were against Jeremy Lin’s sudden yet brief rise to superstardom. Amar’e Stoudemire, who experienced Linsanity first-hand, also saw what it was like behind the curtains.
The man who knew too much
Four years after Linsanity, when Stoudemire was already with the Miami Heat, the All-Star forward appeared to take a shot at Carmelo Anthony. Right after the end of Linsanity, rumors suggested that Anthony was one of the major factors why the Knicks did not re-sign Lin.
“Everyone wasn’t a fan of him being the new star,” Stoudemire said without mentioning specific players. “So he didn’t stay long. But Jeremy was a great, great guy. Great teammate. He worked hard. He put the work in and we’re proud of him to have his moment. A lot of times you gotta enjoy someone’s success. And that wasn’t the case for us during that stretch,” Stoudemire said, per the New York Daily News.
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“You got to enjoy that. You got to let that player enjoy himself and cherish those moments. He was becoming a star and I don’t think everybody was pleased with that,” Stat added.
Last month, Lin did confirm that there were “multiple points of opposition” within the organization. This included teammates and front-office executives. However, he wasn’t fully sure if Anthony was one of those involved.
Melo’s rebuttal
Stoudemire dropped the comments at the tail-end of the 2015-16 NBA season; when Kristaps Porzingis was finishing off his stellar rookie year. From being booed in the NBA Draft, Porzingis was deemed the Knicks’ second star. And so Anthony parried Stat’s insinuations by pointing out the Latvian’s emergence.
“If that was the case, I’d be upset right now with K.P.,” Anthony said. “I doubt he’s talking about me. I highly doubt that.”
Perhaps it’s a trivial pursuit to track the culprit who ended Linsanity. It’s heartbreaking enough that someone or a group of people pulled Lin back to the ground just as he was about to break out.
Lin did admit that he was unaware that such malicious forces existed in the middle of Linsanity. He was just overwhelmed by how quickly everything was evolving. Perhaps just like the spectators and diehard NBA fans, Lin believed that meritocracy was the only governing theory that ruled the NBA. Little did he know that dirty politics exist, too. And he was one of its victims.
