Carmelo Anthony Says Denver Nuggets Giving His Number to Nikola Jokic Was a 'Petty Maneuver'

The NBA legend believes Denver was trying "to erase what I did" for the franchise by giving his number to Jokic

Carmelo Anthony wasn’t too pleased to find out his former team the Denver Nuggets had given another incoming player his old No. 15 jersey number.

Even if that player turned out to be back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.

“It was a petty maneuver,” Anthony, 39, told The Kid Mero’s 7 p.m. in Brooklyn podcast this week. “It wasn’t like we got numbers to choose from, it was like here, you got No. 15.”

Anthony said he does think it’s possible Jokic, 28, could’ve picked the No. 15 to “pay homage” to him as one of the greatest Nuggets of all time.

“But what I believe is they gave him No. 15 to try to erase what I did,” he said.

Related: NBA Star Carmelo Anthony Announces His Retirement: 'My Story Has Always Been More Than Basketball'

Anthony retired from the NBA last May after 19 seasons. He was first drafted by Denver at the No. 3 overall spot in the 2003 NBA Draft, having just won the NCAA National Championship with the Syracuse Orange earlier that year as a freshman.

The star forward excelled in the NBA, becoming one of the best Nuggets players of all-time by finishing his tenure with the franchise as its No. 3 all-time points leader and having led the team to the 2009 Western Conference Finals.

But Anthony requested a trade in 2011, eventually landing with the New York Knicks after an acrimonious end to his time in Denver. Anthony’s career in New York never produced the coveted NBA title he hoped to bring to the city, leading the team to three playoff appearances but just one series win during that time.

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Anthony never won an NBA title, but won a record four gold medals with the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. He ended his career as the NBA’s No. 19 all-time leading scorer with 28,289 points.

"I am forever grateful for those people and places because they made me Carmelo Anthony,” the former NBA star said last year in a video announcing his farewell to basketball. “But now the time has come for me to say goodbye to the court where I made my name to the game that gave me purpose and pride."

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The Nuggets drafted Jokic in 2014, roughly a decade before the Serbian-born powerhouse forward led the team to its first-ever NBA Championship last season.

Jokic – one of the league’s most popular players – was named the NBA Finals MVP, one season after winning back-to-back league MVP awards in 2021 and 2022.

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