One of the topics of discussion on the recent Gil’s Arena podcast was the drama ensuing with the Denver Nuggets organization regarding the number 15 jersey number. Before Nikola Jokc rocked number 15, it was Carmelo Anthony making nightly highlights in that jersey number. According to Anthony, the Nuggets gave away his jersey number as a ‘petty maneuver’ to erase his accomplishments as a Nugget.
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While on Gil’s Arena, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas and the rest of the hosts went on to talk about how Carmelo Anthony may not have been worried at first with Nikola Jokic wearing number 15. Under the assumption that Jokic had no resume at first quickly changed when he won back-to-back MVP awards. And then winning an NBA championship, bringing the first title to Denver in Nuggets history must’ve tipped things over for Melo.
The hosts went on to discuss how the New York Knicks should consider retiring the number 7 jersey before someone comes along and surpasses Melo’s accomplishments as a Knick as well.
While on the show, Gilbert Arenas went on to say, “Alright, Knicks, Knicks, Knicks. That 7, you know that 7 right? Don’t give that 7 away.” Immediately Brandon Jennings jumped in to say, “I think they should retire number 7 with the Knicks.”
Carmelo Anthony spent seven and a half seasons with the Denver Nuggets before requesting a trade to the New York Knicks. A new big three was formed in New York with Melo, Amar’e Stoudamire, and Tyson Chandler.
New York made the playoffs thrice after Anthony’s arrival but did not make it past the first round in the first two years. In his third year as a Knick, Anthony led the team to the Conference Semi-Finals before the Knicks went back to missing the playoffs altogether.
Even after spending another seven and a half seasons with the New York Knicks, Anthony did not leave much of a mark in terms of stats. He is only the leader in usage percentage and offensive box plus/minus for the Knicks.
So, should Anthony’s number be retired by the Knicks where he only led the team to the playoffs thrice out of seven seasons? We’ll leave that for you to decide.
Carmelo Anthony’s take on the Nuggets giving his jersey away
Carmelo Anthony recently came forward with his displeasure over the Denver Nuggets giving Nikola Jokic his jersey number. Melo went on to extensively shed light on the whole situation on his podcast, 7PM in Brooklyn.
“It was a petty maneuver. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we got numbers to choose from.’ It was like, ‘Here, you got 15.’ And y’all put Jokic in the middle of that. He don’t know what the f*** is going on. He could’ve been like, I wanna wear 15. He could’ve been like, ‘15 is here, I can wear 15. Oh, that’s Melo’s number. You know what I mean? Just pay homage, I don’t know. He could’ve wore it because he wanted to pay homage. But what I believe is that they gave him 15 to try to erase what I did.”
Nikola Jokic too addressed the whole jersey number drama. While admitting that he wore number 15 his whole life, Jokic praised Carmelo Anthony and his game during a press conference.
Let’s see if this drama ensues even further with Melo coming forward to call out the Nuggets.
