Carmelo Anthony: ‘I never wanted to leave Denver’

Ten years ago, Carmelo Anthony pressured the Denver Nuggets to trade him to the New York Knicks, but there is more to the story.

Carmelo Anthony forced his way to the New York Knicks way back when in 2011. He was ready to part ways with the Denver Nuggets and return to his hometown — or was he? Melo revealed that he didn’t really want to leave the Nuggets during an appearance on “All The Smoke.”

Contrary to what anybody and every onebelieves, I never wanted to leave Denver. I never told people that. But I never wanted to leave Denver. But it’s like they put my back against the wall…

So, I’m not about to rebuild. I’m not going to rebuild after we done went to the Western Conference Finals. We’re supposed to be building, not rebuilding. And I went to them. I’m like, “I don’t want to go, but if y’all going to rebuild, it’s time for me to go somewhere else.”

Ten years later, this feels like splitting hairs. Sure, the Nuggets could have tried to keep building around their core, but other than Melo, the rest of the core was aging. Chauncey Billups and Kenyon Martin were both in their 30s. Trying to run it back with that team in the Western Conference would have been no easy task.

Ten years later, the Melo trade to the Knicks is still dissected and analyzed. Even as the Knicks position themselves to trade for a star, the Carmelo Anthony trade is almost always referenced first.