Carmelo Anthony calls out Nuggets for giving No. 15 to Nikola Jokic: 'Petty maneuver'

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Carmelo Anthony has some beef to pick with his former team, the Denver Nuggets. 

On the latest episode of his "7PM in Brooklyn" podcast with The Kid Mero, Anthony’s co-host asked him if he felt some type of way about the Nuggets giving No. 15 to Nikola Jokic, who developed into a two-time MVP and is the face of the franchise now. 

For background, Anthony was the third overall pick of the 2003 NBA Draft by the Nuggets, and he developed into an All-Star with the team that took him in at 19 years old. 

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Nikola Jokic, #15 of the Denver Nuggets, looks on during the game on Dec. 28, 2023 at the Ball Arena in Denver. (Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images)

"It was a petty maneuver. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we got numbers to choose from.’ It was like, ‘Here, you got 15.’ And y’all put Jokic in the middle of that. He don’t know what the f--- going on."

Anthony added that perhaps Jokic was trying to pay homage to his No. 15 predecessor when he chose it. 

It is worth noting, though, that Jokic was a second-round selection by the Nuggets, meaning they did not truly believe at the time he would develop into the player he is currently in the NBA. 

"He could’ve been like, ‘I want to wear 15,’ or ’15 is here, I want to wear 15. Oh, that’s Melo’s number.’ You know what I mean?" Anthony said to The Kid Mero. "Like just pay homage. I don’t know. He could’ve worn it because he wanted to pay homage. 

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"But what I believe is that they gave him 15 to try to erase what I did. I used to think about it. I don’t think about this s--- no more,