Despite it having been almost exactly a decade since NBA legend Carmelo Anthony was traded from the Denver Nuggets, the future Hall of Famer is still holding grudges against his former team — particularly about how they've handled his jersey number with Nikola Jokic.
During the most recent episode of Anthony's "7PM in Brooklyn" weekly podcast that he does alongside The Kid Mero, Anthony shared why he believes the Nuggets gave #15 — his old jersey number — to two-time NBA MVP and defending NBA champion, Nikola Joki?.
?Y?all put Jokic in the middle of that?
Melo opens up on jersey #15 in Denver on a new episode, out now. Tap in.@carmeloanthony x @THEKIDMERO
?: https://t.co/JhHT8uX4QG pic.twitter.com/iHtZPb3PO1
— 7PM in Brooklyn (@7PMinBrooklyn) January 11, 2024
"It was a petty maneuver," Anthony said. "It wasn't like, 'Oh, we got numbers to choose from.' It was like, 'Here. You got 15.'"
Anthony went on, noting why he places the blame on Denver, rather than Joki?.
"And ya'll put Joki? in the middle of that. He don't know what the f*** is going on... [Joki?] could have worn [15] because he wanted to pay homage. But what I believe is that they gave him 15, to try to erase my accomplishments... that [giving Joki? 15] was done purposely. That was a slap in the face."
Anthony's take on this jersey dispute is interesting, to say the least; especially because the Nuggets wouldn't seem to have an obvious reason in downplaying Anthony's tenure there. After drafting Anthony with the third overall pick in the 2003 Draft, the Nuggets appeared in the playoffs in all seven of his seasons there.
What's more, Anthony was named to four All-Star teams while on Denver — and his #15 in the Nuggets' powder blue jersey was one of the NBA's best-selling and most iconic jerseys at the time. So why would they want to disrespect him?
Well, Melo has a take on that, too.
"So now, just start thinking, this is because this is the narrative that they put out there," Anthony said during the podcast. "'He wanted to leave. He wanted to do this.' Nah. But why would you disrespect by even offering that?... You're saying, 'f*** me' dead smack to the rest of the world. Cool. I ain't never said nothing bad about y'all."
So while Anthony believes the Nuggets letting Joki? take his old number was payback for Anthony requesting a trade out of Denver in 2014, we'll likely never hear Denver's side of the story.
What's for certain is that, considering his nonchalant attitude toward everything, Joki? — who started wearing #15 in Serbia because he was the biggest kid on the team and that jersey number was the largest — likely couldn't care less about any of this.
