Carmelo Anthony’s is the most complicated NBA superstar return home

Carmelo Anthony is coming to play against the Knicks for the first time on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, NBATV). It’s his first return to the city that raised him, welcomed him back home, then saw its then-front office kick him out the door he never asked to walk through. His return won’t be as simple as Paul George’s to Indiana, Kevin Durant’s to Oklahoma City or even Kyrie Irving’s to Cleveland.

Carmelo Anthony never abandoned anyone. He, instead, was abandoned, mostly by a regime no longer in control.

Anthony’s six years as the Knicks’ superstar were complicated, mostly unaccomplished, and were nothing short of a circus. Maybe that had something to do with the blockbuster deal that forced the Knicks to part with considerable talent just to get him. But the organization, particularly under Phil Jackson, didn’t make anything easier.

The boos that are sure to rain down at Madison Square Garden will, deep down, come from memories of watching the team’s centerpiece play lackluster defense, and chuck up questionable iso-ball shots more than anything else. But those are the only legitimate knocks Knicks fans can have against the star who promised — and gave — his all. Even when it was hard.

But this is New York, after all. The city’s biggest basketball scapegoat will feel the same unwarranted animosity on Saturday that he grew to accept in his final seasons in NYC, after unapologetically being himself both on and off the court.

It speaks to his undying loyalty to New York City, that somehow Anthony still misses it all.

“How could I not miss New York?” Anthony told ESPN. “I became entrenched into not just the Knicks, but the city as a whole. Those are my roots, the people there. I became one of them.”

Though his co-star, Kristaps Porzingis, never left his side while he had his own disputes with Phil Jackson and the Knicks’ front office last season, Anthony’s absence has allowed the Latvian room to grow into one of the league’s best scorers.

With Porzingis at the helm, the Knicks are in the playoff race and above .500 at 15-13, and that includes seven games and counting with Tim Hardaway Jr. sidelined.

The Knicks have found roles for Doug McDermott and Enes Kanter, their two returns from the Anthony trade, and have a roster good enough to touch the postseason for the first time in five years.

There are plenty of holes, including their blatant need for better guard play and defensive talents. But in Porzingis and rookie Frank Ntilikina, the Knicks’ better days are definitively ahead of them.

That wasn’t always the case.

It’s no secret that OKC is struggling to put its Big 3 (Anthony, Russell Westbrook and Paul George) together to win games. The Thunder are barely in the playoffs if the season ended today, with a 14-14 record, and Anthony in particular is struggling.

He’s shooting a career-worst from both the field (41 percent) and the free throw line (76 percent). The Thunder as a team has failed to find its offensive identity, and because of it, Anthony has brought back the same isolation tendencies that turned New Yorkers against him.

A triple-overtime win on the road in Philly on Friday night might help swing things. But Anthony isn’t certain to make it further than his old team just yet. There’s a lot of work to do in OKC.

Coming back to New York will allow Anthony to see his wife and son again, who he had to move away from to continue his career in OKC. That’s a forgotten aspect of September’s trade.

“Walking in there, it’ll be a little emotional, because from the standpoint, that’s home,” Anthony told ESPN. “Being back in there, being on the other side, running out the other side of the tunnel, seeing people that I became close with, seeing my family that I can’t really much right now because I’m in Oklahoma City -- my son, my wife -- seeing them, having them be there, is very important.”

Anthony’s return will also bring about emotions of what could have been in New York had the pieces come together under different management. Westbrook’s talent opened the door for Anthony to move to OKC. It will always be frustrating to know the opposite could have been true in New York.

But Anthony always did what he could with the cards he was given.