How Carmelo Anthonys trade from Nuggets led to 2023 LeBron James, Lakers playoff destruction
Carmelo Anthony announced his retirement from basketball and looking back, his trade from the Denver Nuggets in 2011 was a substantial contributing factor to them making their first-ever NBA Finals. Anthony was a member of the 2003 draft class and became the most recent member to retire, leaving only the #1 overall pick, LeBron James, still active from that era.
The Denver Nuggets drafted Anthony 3rd overall after he won the NCAA championship with Syracuse in 2003 and earned the NCAA East regional MVP in his only year of college. Melo was one of the most consistent scorers in NBA history, averaging over 20 points per game from 2003-04 to 2016-17. The Denver Nuggets found playoff success under Carmelo, making the conference Finals in 2009 only to lose to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.
The Nuggets traded Carmelo to the New York Knicks in 2011 as they looked to rebuild their team and acquired the 7th overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. This pick was the Los Angeles Laker’s 2023 nightmare in Jamal Murray. The Denver Nuggets have made the conference finals twice since then and have faced the Lakers both times with Murray, losing to them in 2020 and sweeping them in 2023 with Murray averaging 32 points per game.
Ironically, The Los Angeles Lakers could not pile on their back-to-back successes against the Nuggets in the conference finals because they beat them in 2009. If the Nuggets had won that series, the organization would have probably never traded Anthony, as they would have kept faith in their roster, and Jamal Murray would have never come to carry them to the 2023 NBA Finals.
Also Read: Nikola Jokic breaks Wilt Chamberlain’s 56-YEAR OLD RECORD in another incredible performance
Carmelo Anthony was a Nuggets villain in 2011 but has turned out a hero in 2023
Anthony’s career as a Denver Nugget has seen contributions while he was there, and the butterfly effect of his leaving in 2011 has rippled to 2023. The Denver Nuggets were forced to trade their best player getting in the middle of a season coming off a Conference Finals appearance just two years prior. However, in retrospect, Jamal Murray was the silver lining to that trade they did not know would take them over their historical franchise hurdle.
After the trade, Nuggets fans were upset with Carmelo Anthony for abandoning their franchise despite their recent success. Carmelo Anthony appeared on the All The Smoke podcast in 2021 and explained his decision, saying – “I never wanted to want to leave Denver, but they put my back against the wall… We are supposed to be building, not rebuilding.” The Nuggets did not re-sign key players like J.R Smith in 2011 after their successful playoff runs, which led to Anthony leaving in frustration as he felt the franchise was going in the wrong direction
The veteran scorer was part of the Nuggets for seven and a half seasons and averaged over 25 points per game in 4 of his seven seasons for the Nuggets and led the league in scoring in 2012-13 after moving to the Knicks. However, the Nuggets face a dilemma of jersey retirement as Melo wore the #15, and their current hero who has taken them to the NBA Finals, Nikola Jokic, also dons that number.
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