NBA legend and veteran of numerous teams in the league, Carmelo Anthony, took a jab at the current champions in a recent podcast appearance. One of the greatest scorers of his era, Carmelo was asked about why Nikola Jokic wears his number for the Denver Nuggets.
According to Anthony, the Nuggets deliberately made this move to “erase his legacy in Colorado.” He expressed his disapproval, stating that it wasn’t a situation where they offered Jokic a choice of numbers, but rather assigned him the number ’15.’ The decision to prominently feature Jokic was, according to Anthony, intentional, leaving Jokic unaware of the underlying dynamics. Carmelo added, “He could have said, ‘I want to wear 15.’ They could have been like, ‘But 15 is Melo’s number.'”
Nikola Jokic previously wore the number ’15’ during his time with Mega Basket and the Serbian national team. George Karl, his coach during their shared time in Denver, was among those left speechless by Carmelo’s public comments.
Anthony, drafted third overall by Denver in the renowned 2003 NBA Draft, played for the Nuggets for his first eight NBA seasons. His most significant achievement during that time was reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2009, where they were halted by Kobe Bryant on their way to the Lakers’ championship. Anthony later insisted on a trade and ended up in New York, continuing his NBA journey through Oklahoma, Houston, and Portland before landing with the Lakers for the 2021/22 season.
While Anthony’s NBA career remains uncertain, he has somewhat compensated with his status as the all-time leading scorer for the United States national team, winning three Olympic gold medals and one bronze.
