Melo World: How Knicks Legend Carmelo Anthony Became a Business Mogul

Carmelo Anthony is a man on the go. In a very literal sense, he is speaking with me over the phone as the car he’s in navigates the hectic rush-hour traffic of New York, the city in which he made his name. More figuratively, Anthony—or Melo, as he’s affectionately known in the world of basketball—is navigating another journey as a true multihyphenate in the world of business, two years on from stepping away from an illustrious career laden with accolades.

There were his 10 NBA All-Star selections between 2007 and 2017, as well as three Olympic gold medals for Team USA in Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro. He retired with more than 28,000 NBA career points, cementing his legacy as one of the deadliest shooters that the NBA has ever seen.

His cultural impact, too, was unmatched. He was the first signature athlete signed to Nike’s Jordan brand to develop his own sneaker line since MJ himself. Anthony, who entered the league in 2003 as part of a legendary draft class that also featured LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, was undoubtedly among a crop of generational talents who changed the face of the sport forever.

Playing for the New York Knicks, 2017 / Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images

These achievements are set to be honored in no uncertain terms. Anthony will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 on not one but two counts: first in his individual capacity, and also as a member of the 2008 “Redeem Team” that won gold at the 2008 Olympics and sparked a still undefeated run of Team USA Olympic gold medal basketball showings.

From Athlete to Entrepreneur

Life today looks different for Anthony compared to his playing days. He presides over a diverse business portfolio that spans wine, cannabis and cigars, as well as extensive community-focused philanthropic endeavors. He also has a burgeoning media career, but more on that later.

With his collection of more than 700 sneakers / Photo: Courtesy of AD

Anthony was arguably far ahead of his time, given the way he was able to transition from playing to turning his off-court interests into fully fledged ventures and revenue streams. Nowadays, in the era of NIL and superagents closing six- and seven-figure sponsorship agreements for teenage stars, it’s commonplace for athletes to rack up endorsement deals and equity investment opportunities and begin their own businesses even before they’ve left college.

But when Anthony entered the league in the early 2000s, off-court opportunities for athletes looked different. Regardless, he says he was focused on one thing and one thing only back then.

“I was so locked into my craft. It was really hard for me to think of anything else than basketball early in my career,” he says. Slowly but surely, as he grew into his career and began being exposed to the myriad business dealings that support the world of professional sports, Anthony began widening his horizons. As many of the players of his generation did, he had to educate himself on the business world.

“The vision was always there in terms of me wanting to explore things beyond basketball down the line,” he says. “I was always intrigued by different businesses, and the way different people strategize their business portfolios, the way people think outside of the actual sport of basketball. I just didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do until I actually started going through my career and began taking advantage of each touchpoint I encountered throughout that timeline.”

A Booming Business Empire

Today, Anthony has his hands full with a growing cluster of business and charitable interests spanning several industries. Back in 2022, he cofounded his own wine business, VII(N) The Seventh Estate, which yielded an inaugural vintage called Oath of Fidelity, a 2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

VII(N) The Seventh Estate Oath of Fidelity 2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape / Photo: Courtesy of Randall Slavin

In 2024, he announced the founding of his first major venture in the cannabis industry. Grand National is described by Anthony and his cofounders as “an agency designed to empower cannabis companies who share a passion for culture, cultivation, and community.” True to his self-starter attitude, the first venture under the company’s umbrella is STAYME7O, a craft cannabis product cultivated in Oregon and overseen by Anthony himself, which launched in select retailers across New York in the spring.

And earlier this year in San Francisco, he entered the world of cigars, announcing the launch of VERSA VII at NBA All-Star Weekend—a venture in partnership with Kingmakers, a business that has helped other distinguished athletes, such as WNBA star Kelsey Plum, create high-end signature cigars.

Working with New Heights Youth, New York City / Photo: Courtesy of Randall Slavin

That’s far from all. Through the Carmelo Anthony Foundation, which was founded back in 2005, he has partnered with organizations such as Feed the Children and UNICEF and consistently championed causes including community impact, social reform, and racial equality through various outreach programs, donations, and initiatives.

A Cultural Icon

There are also Anthony’s ventures STAYME7O and Creative 7, which span the fashion and media industries, respectively. It’s no surprise that fashion forms an element of Anthony’s business portfolio—it has been a core strand of his life stretching back to his early playing days. He was part of a generation of NBA celebrities who paved the way for the now-famous tunnel walk, where stars flex their favorite brands on entry to arenas ahead of their games.

“By exploring the world of fashion, we allowed athletes to kind of step outside of themselves and realize that there’s more to us as individuals than just having a uniform on,” Anthony says. “Because for so long, the fashion world didn’t embrace athletes. But over the years, the fashion world has increasingly looked to athletes and invited us in. The tunnel walk is a new kind of runway, right?” Venturing into the world of fashion was one of the things that helped Anthony understand just how culturally and commercially influential athletes can be.

“We brought the fashion world into our arena, as opposed to going into their arena and going to their fashion shows,” he says. “Without even knowing, we created our own fashion runway. That just tells you the impact that we actually have when it comes to reaching different sectors out there beyond sports.”

Anthony is also known for being one of the most prolific sneakerheads in the world of sports and has an extensive personal archive. “I’ve been collecting sneakers for over 20 years now,” he says, estimating he has amassed a collection of several hundred pairs at this point.

“I’ve been collecting sneakers for over 20 years now.”

One of the most pivotal off-court moments in his early career came when he was signed by Nike to become the first signature athlete of its Jordan brand, with the first bespoke Air Jordan basketball shoe since Michael Jordan himself. Signing with Air Jordan—back then still a fledgling part of Nike’s empire, but now a $7 billion business—was a moment that would prove transformational in basketball sneaker culture and Anthony’s life in general, but at the time, it was hard to grasp how significant it would become.

“Back then, you know, you’re young, so you can’t really fully comprehend what’s going on. I was just excited and happy to be a part of a brand like that and actually be on MJ’s team,” he says. “But as you get older and start putting things into perspective, it’s like, Wow, man, I really was the first signature athlete of Michael Jordan’s brand. And I’m still partners in business with him and enjoying things some 20 years later.”

On The Air

Since retiring, Anthony has added yet more string to his bow, increasingly in the media world. From next season, for example, he will work as an NBA analyst on NBC broadcasts. His motivation for doing so is simple, he says: It’s all about giving back to the sport that changed his life.

“It’s a testament to what this game did for me and how it shaped me and what it provided for me as someone who was a part of this NBA for nearly 20 years,” he says.

7PM in Brooklyn podcast with rotating cohost The Kid Mero / Photo: Courtesy of Randall Slavin

Meanwhile, Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast series is still going strong after launching toward the end of 2023. As readers may have noticed, the number seven (also expressed as VII in Roman numerals) runs through the nomenclature of all Anthony’s ventures, a reference to his jersey number during his tenure with the New York Knicks, which coincidentally lasted seven seasons.

The other important facet tying all his endeavors together is his mission to widen representation in and access to certain industries for the BIPOC community. It drives the inspiration behind his work in philanthropy, media, wine, cannabis, fashion, and everything in between.

“I’m excited when I get to open doors for more people to get an inside view of industries they want to build in,” he says. Before we end our conversation, I have one burning question left: “How do you find the time to focus on all these different things you do?”

“It’s about being patient and really understanding the lanes that you want to go in. And having an overall vision. Every role that I have, every sector that I’m in, it’s all part of this one STAYME7O ecosystem,” he says, as we wrap up the call before he heads on for the next stop of a busy evening in New York. But that’s simply a day in the life of Carmelo Anthony.