Carmelo Anthony of the Portland Trail Blazers has adopted a new persona in preparation for the NBA restart.

In anticipation of a move back to small forward, with bigs Jusuf Nurkic (leg) and Zach Collins (shoulder) nearing a return from their respective injuries, Anthony, 36, has cut roughly five pounds and found himself at a playing weight closer to where he was early in his career. 

"Every summer it's a different name for me," Anthony told ESPN's Royce Young on Friday. "This summer is Skinny Melo. There's Hoodie Melo, USA Melo, there's so many different Melos out there. But at the end of the day, I'm me."

Anthony said the weight loss was part of his hiatus training plan. Now between 230 and 235 pounds, the veteran notes he's feeling healthier on the court and has more clarity on his role during the restart.

That's become even more crucial with forward Trevor Ariza opting out to maintain visitation with his son, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. While he's been positioned at power forward for the majority of the season, Anthony was a relative lock to move to the No. 3 spot on the floor given his experience.

CJ McCollum said:

"I told him he looks like he lost weight, but he hasn't lost that many pounds. It's more so turning some of the fat into muscle and leaning out. But he's always around the same weight; he just carries it different. So when he has those little tights on and the muscle shirt he looks thinner but he's moving well, he's in good shape and he's ready to go."

Through 50 games this season, Anthony is averaging 15.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 32.5 minutes per contest. He hasn't played the majority of his minutes at small forward since 2016-17 with the New York Knicks, per Basketball Reference.

Perhaps most importantly for his new role in Portland, Anthony is shooting his best three-point percentage (37.1 percent) since 2013-14, yet that's likely to come down a bit as he begins to attempt more shots behind the arc. The forward was averaging 3.9 three-pointers before the league went on hiatus this season as opposed to his average of 5.4 over the last seven years. 

The Blazers will see five Western Conference foes during the eight remaining regular-season games, and he's hoping his slimmed-down self will catch them off guard compared to what they saw earlier in the season.

As fans and opponents alike get their first glimpse of Anthony's new form, he'll happily accept the moniker of "Skinny Melo" that comes with it. 

"I take it as a compliment," he said. "I take it as a testament to the work I had put in, just the extreme focus I've had over these past couple months."