Key Takeaways
- Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott claimed Carmelo Anthony for his city over New York, telling Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, “Melo is ours. He just happened to be born in New York!”
- Scott pointed to Anthony’s West Baltimore tattoo and basketball roots: The Brooklyn-born star grew up in Baltimore and played at Towson Catholic before his rise to NBA stardom.
- Meanwhile, Carmelo and Lala Anthony finalized their divorce more than five years after her June 2021 filing, though La La has spoken positively about co-parenting their son, Kiyan.
Carmelo Anthony's marriage to Lala Anthony is officially over, but Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is making it clear there's one relationship the retired NBA superstar isn't getting out of: his connection to West Baltimore.
With the Anthonys' divorce officially finalized, Scott has weighed in on a completely different debate surrounding Melo—whether New York or Baltimore gets to claim him. And as far as the mayor is concerned, Brooklyn doesn't have much of a case.
"Well, listen… as far as basketball culture, Melo has no connection to New York basketball culture before he played for the Knicks," Scott told Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson during a recent #WORDSWITHSCOOP interview. "We know that Melo was born there, but this is my 1984 West Baltimore brother, right? He has a 'WB' tattoo—a West Baltimore tattoo—not a Brooklyn tattoo!"
Scott left little room for negotiation, too: "Melo is ours. He just happened to be born in New York!"
The mayor has a point about Anthony's basketball upbringing. Although Melo was born in Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood in 1984, he moved to Baltimore as a child and developed his game on the city's courts. He played at Towson Catholic before transferring to Oak Hill Academy, then led Syracuse to the 2003 NCAA championship.
By the time the Knicks acquired him from Denver in 2011, Anthony was already an established NBA superstar. Scott also pointed to the House of Melo and Anthony's West Baltimore tattoo as evidence of his hometown allegiance. "Brooklyn's a little fancy now—we're still gritty here in Baltimore!" he joked.
Meanwhile, Anthony's personal life has reached a significant milestone. Carmelo and Lala finalized their divorce more than five years after she filed in June 2021. The couple began dating in 2003, welcomed their son Kiyan in 2007, and married in 2010. They separated in 2017 amid reports of infidelity, later attempted to reconcile, and eventually went their separate ways.
The timing also follows Alex Cooper's October 30 repost of a 2022 Call Her Daddy interview in which Lala described the anxiety she experienced as an NBA wife. "I never slept," she recalled, explaining that she worried about potential infidelity while Carmelo traveled for games.
She also said she refused to ignore problems in the marriage. "I never turned a blind eye to it. I addressed it, and ultimately that was part of the reason why I could no longer be in the relationship anymore."
Despite their history, La La has spoken positively about their ability to co-parent Kiyan.
