Carmelo Anthony has played for six teams in the NBA, but didn’t quite reach the legendary heights anywhere quite as much as he did at Denver and New York. While he remains on excellent terms with the Knicks, his relationship with the Nuggets, the team that drafted him, remains cold. Why? Anthony doesn’t know.
In an interview with journalist Rachel Nichols before his recent Hall of Fame induction, Melo was asked if he was aware of the Nuggets putting aside their ‘icy’ relationship and releasing a video package congratulating him on his career. Anthony wasn’t.
The former Syracuse forward was drafted third overall by the Nuggets in 2003 and went on to become the franchise’s best player by far. Between 2003 and 2010, he was the hero of the Mile High City. However, looking to win, Anthony declared that he wouldn’t be signing a new deal with Denver and demanded a trade to the Knicks. That’s where it all started going downhill.
Anthony recalled that at that point in his career, he needed a change. “You talking about a kid in the league, who’s 25, 26, 27 years old. Still trying to figure out their career, trying to figure out their way,” he said.
Without justifying his decision to abandon the Nuggets too much, Melo declared that he still loves Denver and that it’ll always hold a special place in his heart.
“When you look back on it, I have to [love] the Denver Nuggets. The City of Denver. That’s like, where it started to me. They gave me those keys at 19 years old to say here, do or die. My love for Denver will always be there. It will always be part of, like, that foundation of basketball.”
Nichols wasn’t letting this conversation die there, however. She reminded Anthony that although he respects and loves the Nuggets, the organization doesn’t reciprocate. They gave the #15 jersey, which belonged to him, to the new face of the franchise in Nikola Jokic.
Anthony laughed that off. “They wanted to get rid of me, ‘Get this motherf***** out of here, ‘” he joked.
Regardless, the fact that the Nuggets did congratulate Anthony on his incredible career goes on to show that time heals wounds, albeit not completely. The 10-time All-Star himself stated that patience and maturity played a big role in their icy relationship getting slightly less cold.
“If they wanna have a conversation, we can have a conversation, I just don’t know if we talking about going back 17 years now… Things happen, many more games come, family, kids, friends, it moves on,” he concluded, hinting that he’s open to mending relations with the Nuggets.