Nuggets Potentially Clear Knicks' Path to Carmelo Anthony Honor

As New York Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony prepares to officially punch his ticket into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, his original NBA employer may be ready to bury the hatchet ... or at least the pickaxe.

Per Marc J. Spears of Andscape, the Denver Nuggets are ready to defrost their icy relationship with Anthony, who will be part of Springfield's Class of 2025. Spears notes that "the Nuggets have several plans to finally celebrate [Anthony] over the weekend" and "showing a renewed love" with the former franchise face.

“To our fanbase, I think he represented a shift in where the organization was at a certain point in time to a different era of incredibly competitive basketball," Josh Kroenke, part of the Nuggets ownership group, told Spears. "We made the playoffs every year he was here, had some great runs in there, to the Western Conference finals one year. He put Nuggets basketball back on the map in an incredibly positive way."

Mar 8, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets guard JaKarr Sampson (9) guards New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) in the third quarter at the Pepsi Center. The Nuggets defeated the Knicks 110-94. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

While certainly not a requirement, Anthony smoothing things over with the Nuggets could well help his case toward getting similarly honored in New York: the case of Anthony getting the No. 7 raised to the Madison Square Garden rafters has been a point of contention ever since he announced his retirement in May 2023, as the New York native amassed stellar statistics despite posting just one playoff series win over seven seasons in New York.

Anthony's trade from Denver to Manhattan created some strife between the two sides and the Nuggets have been reluctant to acknowledge his role the franchise's revival: Anthony guided Denver to the postseason in each of his seven full showings after coming over from Syracuse as the third pick of the 2003 draft and event sent the team to the conference final in 2009.

The ultimate blow came when the Nuggets bestowed the No. 15 to a 2014 second-round pick ... named Nikola Jokic. The three-time MVP has perhaps usurped Anthony as the Nuggets' all-time franchise icon, likely sealing such a label by guiding the team to its first NBA title in 2023.

But Anthony's Hall of Fame call on the first ballot has led to a path for reconciliation and Nuggets legends Chauncey Billups and Kiki Vandeweghe each backed up the case for 15's raising in Spears' report, even if there are no imminent plans for such a ceremony as of press time.

“Melo is one of the greatest players in the history of the franchise,” Billups, currently the Portland Trail Blazers' head coach and Anthony's former Denver teammate, said. “Obviously, there’s so many guys that came before us that were great players. Obviously, there was Joker that came after all of us.

"But Melo is one of the best players in the history of the franchise — probably top three, top two in the history of the franchise there. I’m still in Denver and all the fans and the people I know, they still appreciate him. They love him. Obviously, it broke their hearts for him to leave, especially at a time like that when we were close. So, it stung. But at the end of the day, they still love him. They appreciate that they got to see that Melo era.”

Anthony wore No. 15 at both Syracuse and Denver but moved to No. 7 in New York since the digits were already retired in honor of Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. Anthony's case to get that number retired in New York was previously endorsed by prior honorees Bill Bradley and Walt "Clyde" Frazier, who told Knicks on SI that Anthony should "definitely" join them in the near future.

Make sure you bookmark Knicks on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!