Carmelo Anthony stuns single mother with life-changing gift: ‘I’m so grateful’

A single mom received a game-changing gift from Portland Trail Blazers’ veteran Carmelo Anthony, who teamed up with an online car-purchasing platform to make the woman’s dream a reality. 

The NBA star worked with Maryland-based company Gettacar to give a 2017 Mazda CX3 to Shalita Addison, of Baltimore, Md., whose daughter, Taylor Addison, received a D1 basketball scholarship to attend Mount St. Mary’s University, WMAR reports.

Addison endured a myriad of struggles with her old car, a 1997 Honda Accord, which would often fail to start and leave her missing work and other important appointments. 

After learning of the mother’s plight, Gettacar and Anthony worked together to get the mother a reliable vehicle and deliver it right to her town.

Addison’s daughter, who knew about the car ahead of time, helped lure her mother to her school’s parking lot, where the Mazda was waiting for her — and the surprise left Addison in tears.

I’m so grateful,” she told reporters after receiving the car. “Sometimes you don’t think that prayer works, but raising (my daughter alone) and then she gets a D1 scholarship, just the odds of that…it makes you just keep pursuing your dreams.”

Addison’s daughter echoed her mother’s joy, admitting it was a difficult but exciting secret to keep from her mother. 

“I’m so happy for her,” Taylor said. “She was actually crying about it last night, talking about how she wanted a new car. I was like, ‘In 10 years we’re going to laugh about this.'”

In a statement, Anthony told NBC Sports that it was a no-brainer to pair with Gettacar and help Addison and her daughter — a huge fan of his — a reality. 

“We made a family happy, made some wishes come true,” he said. “It’s a great feeling when you can do something like that and help a family out. It always put things in perspective when you see the impact that has on people.