Carmelo Anthony: “The deal was done with the Lakers; I never thought about New York”

I am a simple man, I am biased, and I acknowledge both things. I see content evenly remotely related to Carmelo Anthony, and I just indulge all of it (multiple times, also). It’s just how things go around here and how my brain is wired. Some things just are beyond man’s control, aren’t they?

That said, what we were gifted earlier this week is a great chunk of content that you will want to check no matter where you sit in the Melo Stan Spectrum. As long as you’re a basketball fan, let alone one aware of what’s been going on in the Association and across the hoops world from Y2K on, you’ll enjoy the latest episode of Dwyane Wade’s podcast, The Why with Dwyane Wade, like a little kid with a lollipop.

These two living legends sat down together to talk for more than two hours (and they already promised a Part II which I personally cannot wait for) and they discussed a lot of topics about Anthony’s life, from his birth in Brooklyn to his upbringing in Baltimore, his high school days and joining Syracuse where he won the Natty as a freshman, and finally all about his 19-year career across the NBA landscape—including stints in Denver, New York, Oklahoma City, Houston, Portland, and Los Angeles.

Again, go watch (or just listen, if that’s better for you) the full talk because it’s extraordinary—believe me. The nuggets (no pun intended) excerpted here are good, but they’re definitely not great nor comprehensive enough. Melo shared a lot of interesting stuff and details about his life in and out of the NBA unknown by most.

At the point of the conversation when Wade and Melo discussed his arrival in New York, Anthony revealed that “New York never was the place,” when asked if he wanted to go there.

“People think that I went in there and was like ‘Get me outta here to Denver.’ That never was the case.”

As Melo recounted what happened, the Nuggets were reaching their peak (they made the Western Conference Finals in 2009 losing to the eventual champions Los Angeles Lakers) but the front office decided to trade a few key players away instead of adding a couple more (“We were two pieces away,” Melo said) to bolster the roster and the chances of Denver winning the chip.

Anthony said that if Denver had beaten the Lakers in 2009, they would have beaten Orlando, thus his feelings about what the Nuggets should have done the following offseason to round up a title-contending roster.

“I’m not trying to rebuild—I’m not saying I want to get out of here, but y’all got to show me y’all cards,” Anthony told Wade retelling what he said to the Nuggets front office after that postseason.

Of course, the Nuggets told Melo that they wanted to keep him around, but then in the summer of 2010, both parties realized that a trade was the best solution for them. Melo said that Chicago entered the conversation but more interestingly, he revealed that a deal was actually in place with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“The deal was done with the Lakers: me and Nene for Lamar Odom and [Andrew] Bynum,” Melo told Wade. “I never thought about New York. When they turned that deal down—now, it’s like, ‘Oh, y’all don’t want me in the West... you gonna send me to the East? Get me to New York.”

After telling Denver he would like to go to New York in a trade to an Eastern Conference franchise, it looks like the Nuggets worked out a trade to the New Jersey Nets before they did arrive at a proper package with the Knicks.

Anthony also revealed George Karl (former Denver Nuggets coach) “had a deal with Utah behind the scenes for Derrick Favors because he thought he was a Nene-type power forward,” and that Denver had a trade in place with the Nets at the All-Star break.

“I ended up in New York. That deal wasn’t supposed to happen. But the deal happened.”

Funnily, however, Anthony was in Los Angeles for the ASG that season when he got to watch a report on TV talking about a potential trade between the Nets and the Nuggets. Stumbling upon that, Melo called the Nuggets to tell them they could send them to the Lakers (in the aforementioned package) but that “I’m not going to Jersey.”

Melo said, “If you was in Brooklyn, next year, I would be there,” when it comes to his potential trade to the still New Jersey Nets, blocking that road. “But I can’t play at the Prudential Center, champ. I can’t do that,” he joked.

“I’m not going to New Jersey though. So we met about Jersey and that was when all the Brooklyn stuff was about to happen two years after that. If you was in Brooklyn next year, I would be there. I can’t play at the Prudential Center champ. I just can’t. I can’t do that.”

Melo went on to talk with Wade about everything that unfolded after his arrival in New York via trade, joining Amare’ Stoudamire (“It was Amare’s team”), injuries impacting his best years with the Knicks (“Injuries started to happen and you have to sit out and then you gotta come back and fit“), his ultimate exit from the franchise (“To this day I really don’t understand it—there’s no explanation”), and his final years in the Association (“[OKC] telling me I can’t make a nine-man roster in this NBA? F*** outta here— you bugging”).

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: go watch the full podcast episode because it’s well worth it. It provides tons of inside info about Melo’s career and lifepath before reaching the NBA all the way to the point he called it a career in 2022 appearing in 69 games with the Lakers teaming up with classmate LeBron James in Hollywood.

Stay Melo.