Congratulations to Carmelo Anthony for being inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2025. He had a pretty good career, but this nonsense about Denver needing to retire his jersey has to stop. It’s crazy to see so many people come out in support of hanging his number in the rafters. Even some former and current NBA players are calling for it; I still hold the opinion that playing in the league doesn’t automatically make your opinion smarter than anyone else’s.
Carmelo Anthony didn’t accomplish anything in Denver worth retiring a jersey for. No championships. No MVPs. No Finals appearances. The farthest he ever got was the 2009 Western Conference Finals, where Kobe and the Lakers sent Denver home in six games. That’s the peak of Melo’s Nuggets run.
Then there’s this weird revisionist history where Melo supposedly “had” to leave because after 2009 Denver’s front office wanted to rebuild instead of adding pieces for another title run. Melo claimed it was either join a contender or stick around for a rebuild. So, what did he do? He forced his way to… the New York Knicks. A team that was absolutely terrible at the time. That wasn’t about competing; it was about chasing the bright lights and playing for a big market team. Can you name one guy on that Knicks roster who would’ve made Melo think, “Yes, this is the championship core I need”?
“But, but, but, he dominated the Olympics!” Nobody denies he was a beast in FIBA play. Before KD and LeBron took over, he even held the record for most points scored by a U.S. player. But his Olympic accomplishments don’t belong to the Nuggets. First, he only played in one Olympics as a Denver Nugget. Second, the Redeem Team’s gold belongs to USA Basketball, not to Denver’s franchise history.
Retiring a jersey should be about more than popularity or points per game. It’s about players who defined a franchise. Dirk in Dallas. Duncan in San Antonio. Kobe in LA. Those guys not only put up stats, they brought their teams ultimate glory. Melo? He left Denver in the rearview before he could even sniff that level of status.
The only way Carmelo’s #15 ever goes up in Ball Arena is if Nikola Jokić (currently #15) personally insists on it out of respect. Jokić has already done more for Denver than Melo ever did, and he’s still going. To be honest, Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown are more legendary Nuggets than Carmelo Anthony.