After more than a year since his last game, Carmelo Anthony was signed to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract by the Portland Trail Blazers. In his first game, he scored 10 points and four rebounds against the New Orleans Pelicans.

NBA star Carmelo Anthony admitted that he was ready to retire before getting signed to Portland last month.

“I was ready to walk away,” Anthony told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “It’s hard, waking up every morning, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what to work on. Wanting to give up hope, wanting to give up faith and belief and just forget this whole basketball thing.”

The Syracuse product was a free agent for most of last season after playing just 10 games with the Houston Rockets. He was effectively dismissed from the team in mid-November and traded to Chicago last January, but was waived on Feb. 1.

At his first signing, Anthony said on his YouTube channel that Portland seemed like a “perfect opportunity” for him.

Anthony, who was named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday, is averaging 17.7 points per game since joining Portland on Nov. 19.

Information from SI.com and Espn.com contributed to this report.

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