Trainer says Carmelo Anthony wants Dwyane Wade-like farewell season

Carmelo Anthony may never get another opportunity to play for an NBA team, but his personal trainer says the 10-time All-Star will savor every last second of it if he does.

Anthony’s trainer, Chris Brickley, said during an appearance on “The Breakfast Club” this week that Carmelo is still better than most players on NBA rosters and is willing to play any role. Brickley believes some teams are under the impression that Anthony would insist upon being a starter, but what he really wants is a Dwyane Wade-style farewell tour.

“I think teams are afraid of, ‘I want to be a starter,’ or, ‘I want this.’ That’s not the case, though,” Brickley said, as transcribed by Dani Mohr of the New York Post. “Melo just wants to have a final season, have a farewell season, do what D-Wade did. Do the jersey swap. He had a great career, he’s a Hall of Famer. So hopefully that can happen.”

Brickley also compared Anthony’s situation to the way Allen Iverson was viewed at the end of his Hall of Fame career, when Brickley believes teams “blackballed” Iverson because of their false ideas of the role he wanted to play.

Anthony received some support on Twitter this week from an NBA star who believes he still deserves a shot, and it’s still possible he could get it. A Wade-style farewell tour probably isn’t his No. 1 priority, however, as Carmelo still does not have an NBA championship ring. We’re guessing that’s what he covets the most at age 35.