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Bill Wennington won three championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1996 to 1998, Joel Anthony claimed two rings with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013, and Chris Boucher captured the Larry O’Brien Trophy with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Now, Montreal is guaranteed a fourth. “It’s amazing,” said Anthony, the co-owner and general manager of the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Montreal Alliance. “They’ve been making everyone proud in the city. “This is the matchup probably everyone in the city would have wanted.”
The Montréal Alliance of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) have announced that Joel Anthony, two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat, has become an owner of his hometown professional basketball team, joining Léo Bouisson, co-founder of Weeve, and pharmacy owner Ian-Philip Paul-Hus. Anthony, who has served as the team’s General Manager since 2021, leads the new local ownership group.
The Montreal Alliance announced Wednesday that Joel Anthony, a 10-year NBA veteran and two-time NBA champion from Montreal, has been named the CEBL expansion team’s first General Manager. Anthony, who attended Selwyn House School, Emmanuel Christian School, and Dawson College in Montreal before graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, began his NBA career with Miami in the 2007-08 season. During seven seasons with the Heat, in which he played alongside NBA greats such as LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Shaquille O’Neal, Ray Allen, and Dwayne Wade, Anthony was part of championship teams in 2011-12 and 2012-13. He played with the Boston Celtics in 2013-14, Detroit Pistons in 2014-15 and 2015-16, and finished his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs in 2016-17. All total, Anthony played in 490 regular season and 66 playoff games during his 10 NBA seasons.
Doug Smith: The great Joel Anthony re-ups in a front office role with the CEBL's Hamilton Honey Badgers. They should have signed him as a player because I know Joel and I bet he'd still get 'em about 17 boards a night
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Once Birch took the game of basketball more seriously, he got a contract with the Orlando Magic in 2017. Now, he’s using his newfound opportunity to give back to his local community and take after another fellow Montreal and NBA player who has held basketball camps in his home city, former Miami Heat star Joel Anthony. “Very big inspiration,” Birch said. “He’s my idol and I still look up to him.”
Adam Johnson: San Lorenzo def Austin Spurs 77-59 in the 3rd place game at FIBA Intercontinental Cup. Joel Anthony (yes that Joel Anthony) led San Lorenzo with 14 pts, 9 rebs and 3 blks. Spurs finish 0-2 and lose both games by a combined 50 pts.
Ira Winderman: No Kelly Olynyk tonight for Canada in World Cup qualifier in Chile, due to 15-hour travel. Former Heat center Joel Anthony (who is now playing professionally in Argentina) enters in his place.
Olynyk and Joel Anthony, now 36, the most senior of the senior team players, are teammates again, hoping to find a way to restore Canada to some semblance of international basketball relevance. It’s something of a sport to obsess on the Canadian NBA veterans who don’t or haven’t made a serious commitment to the national team program, and it is a newsworthy endeavour to do so every time the team gets together. But Olynyk and Anthony, at different stages of their lives and careers, illustrate there are those who take Canada very seriously. And if the country is to be represented at the big international events again — those games at the 2010 worlds mark the last time Canada was anywhere — younger players need to draw inspiration from the model set by Olynyk and Anthony.
Two-time NBA champion Joel Anthony has signed a deal in Argentina with San Lorenzo Basket, the team announced. Anthony was a free agent after spending the preseason with the Milwaukee Bucks. The big man finished last season with the San Antonio Spurs.
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The Bucks have requested waivers on Joel Anthony, Gary Payton II and Brandon Rush. The roster now stands at 15 players.
Fourteen of the roster spots are accounted for by players on guaranteed deals. The last slot, though, is up for grabs. Over the next three weeks, six players — Joel Anthony, Gerald Green, Kendall Marshall, Gary Payton II, Brandon Rush and James Young — will compete to earn a place on the team. Five of those players have multiple years of NBA experience, with Anthony and Green each with 10 years in the league, Rush with nine, Marshall with four and Young with three. Payton, a rookie last season, may not be as long in the tooth, but he is the incumbent, so to speak, considering he signed with the Bucks late last season and has been with the team all summer.
It's possible the Bucks could keep three of the six players under their control. With both of their two-way contracts open, the Bucks could add Young and Payton — each of whom fit the criteria of have three years or fewer of NBA experience — in those two-way spots. That would allow them to spend most of their time in the G League with the Wisconsin Herd while easily moving up to the Bucks if needed. That's a scenario that has not yet been discussed with Payton or Young, who are focused on making the NBA roster. For Payton, that means defending the spot that's been his this summer. "All these guys know what it takes to make a team," Payton said. "For me, it's just to do what I do best, lock down and play defense and do what I can and just play and compete."
The Milwaukee Bucks have signed free agent center/forward Joel (Jo-EL) Anthony and guard/forward Gerald Green to training camp contracts.
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