Carmelo Anthony says the end of his tenure with the Houston Rockets made him question whether he still wanted to play in the NBA.

“I felt like the game didn’t want me back at that point in time,” Anthony told ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on First Take, referring to a period in which he described himself as being “emotionally vulnerable.”cheap nike nfl jerseys china

Now, Anthony says, the passion to play is back.

“I’m in the gym every single day,” Anthony said. He also noted that “silence is not my surrender” and that he has been quiet until now because he felt like he needed to step away from the game to “reevaluate myself, reevaluate my career, reevaluate my life.”

Anthony, a 10-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA player, last suited up for the Rockets for a 10-game stint that ended early in the 2018 season.nfl nike jersey cheap

He said he doesn’t blame friend Chris Paul or even two-time former coach Mike D’Antoni and said he never had a conversation with James Harden about his Rockets exit.

Anthony said being told by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey that he was being let go was a shock.

“He came in and basically said, ‘Look, your services are no longer needed,'” Anthony said of his conversation with Morey. “I was like, ‘What? Hold up. What the hell are you talking about? … You telling me I can’t make a 9-, 10-man rotation on this team?'”

Anthony said of his conversation with Morey that he “didn’t like how that went down” and that it caused him to have doubts about himself.

“That was an ego hit. That was a pride hit,” Anthony said. “I started questioning myself after that. Can I still do this? What did I do? I asked him this. … He just said it wasn’t working out.

“When somebody in power that tells you that they no longer need your services … I’ve been utilizing my services for a long time. For you to tell me you don’t need that no more. I honestly felt that I was fired. I felt like [what] other people go through on a day-to-day basis. People get fired. I honestly felt like I got fired.”