Carmelo Anthony said Thursday there were business reasons in addition to basketball ones that led him to re-sign with the Knicks this offseason.
"I just couldn't leave from that perspective," he said at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in Manhattan. "There were so many opportunities that I started to build upon here in New York City, business opportunities, different situations.
"I just felt if I was to leave, I would have to start all over in the next place, meet new people, build that foundation up once again, and it took me a lot to build that foundation and get it up and going to where it's at right now."
Anthony spoke at length at the summit about his new company, Melo 7 Tech Partners, which focuses on investing in tech companies, most recently the secondary ticket search engine SeatGeek. (Peyton and Eli Manning also invested in the company.)
"I want to brand myself as the digital athlete," said Anthony, who used the word "brand" often. "I really want to be the pioneer for that digital athlete, and when it comes to tech, I want to be the face of that space."