Carmelo Anthony revealed earlier this year that he was a bit upset that the Denver Nuggets had given Nikola Jokic the No. 15 jersey, which he had worn during his time with the franchise. Anthony claimed the Nuggets gave Jokic the No. 15 to erase his legacy and team owner Josh Kroenke has now responded to that claim.
"You don't really think about much," Kroenke said on the Curious Mike podcast. "We had Allen Iverson for a number of years and Ty Lawson wore No. 3. It's not anything that really ever crossed our mind and so I was very surprised to hear Carmelo say that the other day because it was not something that ever crossed my mind.
"I think Nikola has worn No. 15 his entire career even when he was over in Europe," Kroenke continued. "It wasn't something that really crossed our mind and to have Nikola I think ascend to the level that he's at, maybe that might get under somebody's skin I guess,"
"For anyone to think that we gave a second-round pick No. 15 and knowing that it would someday turn into this, I think that's a pretty wild statement," Kroenke concluded.
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Kroenke's final point there is the one that makes Anthony's claim such a ridiculous one. Jokic was the 41st pick of the 2014 NBA Draft and no one on the Nuggets could have imagined in their wildest dreams that he would become the player he is today.
It would be one thing if the Nuggets gave the number to someone like Victor Wembanyama, who had always been viewed as a generational talent. You could then maybe argue they were trying to erase Anthony's legacy, but they gave it to a player in Jokic who was not supposed to turn out to be this good.
Also, an interesting point that you might have missed is someone else actually wore No. 15 for the Nuggets after Carmelo left and before Jokic arrived. Anthony Randolph wore it during the 2013-14 season and if you're wondering who even that is, well it's because he didn't really have a noteworthy NBA career.
Randolph only played six seasons in the league and it again proves the point that the Nuggets weren't trying to erase Anthony's legacy. As Kroenke said, they didn't give much thought to that and if a player wanted a number, they gave it to him. It was just unfortunate for Anthony I suppose that Jokic turned out to be an incredible player.
Nikola Jokic Also Reacted To Carmelo Anthony's Claim
Carmelo's comments had caused a bit of a stir at the time and Jokic was also asked about Anthony saying the Nuggets gave away No. 15 out of spite.
"I think I've been wearing 15 my whole life. In my home town, I was wearing 15 and then I was wearing 14 for one moment I think. Of course, he [Carmelo Anthony] was a great player."
That's in line with what Kroenke said as well. Jokic just wanted to wear the number he had always worn and the Nuggets were not going to stand in his way, just because Anthony wore it too.
It's obviously true that Carmelo was a great player for them and averaged 24.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game as a Nugget, but he didn't do enough for his jersey number to never be worn by anyone else after he left. He didn't win a championship as Jokic has and never even led the team to the NBA Finals.
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