Although his departure from the Nuggets was not the most elegant, a few years ago many would have considered Carmelo Anthony as a possible candidate for a jersey retirement ceremony in Denver. The forward was a four-time All-Star with Colorado, led the team to one of its (at that time) four Conference Finals, and occupies third position on the list of the franchise’s all-time leading scorers only behind Alex English and Dan Issel, whose numbers hang in the Ball Arena. However, in 2024 it seems obvious that number 15 will be retired at some point. But not with Melo’s name on his back.
When he arrived in the league in 2014, Nikola Jokic began wearing the same number on his jersey that he used in Serbia’s Mega Vizura and which coincidentally coincided with the one Anthony had worn during his time with the team. Or was it not so coincidental? At least that’s what the former player hinted at in a recent interview for the podcast 7PM In Brooklyn.
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«It was a dirty play. It wasn’t like they gave him a choice, but rather they told him ‘take the 15’ and put Jokic in the middle of the problem without him knowing what was happening. He could have used it as a tribute, but I think they gave him the 15 as a way of trying to erase everything I did. “I used to think about it a lot, but now I don’t think about it anymore.”
The truth is that, if things happened as Melo tells them, the Nuggets deserve an award for visionaries. If someone had believed that a player chosen at number 41 in the draft was going to do everything that Jokic has done, for starters, they would not have dropped him until 41. And second, he would have had a practically unprecedented capacity for anticipation, because Nikola’s emergence from the second round to one of the greatest offensive talents in history (if not the greatest) is without a doubt one of the great surprises that the NBA has given us.
Most likely, Carmelo is overthinking the situation. Or throwing a dart that he knows is not going to hit the target but that hurts just the same. Because after the Serbian has won a ring and two MVPs, there is no doubt what name will accompany the 15 when he hangs next to the numbers of English and company.
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(Cover photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
2024-01-12 14:00:00
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