During a recent episode of his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, NBA legend Carmelo Anthony slammed the Denver Nuggets for giving Nikola Jokic his number.
"It was a petty maneuver," Anthony said. "It wasn't like, 'Oh, we got numbers to choose from.' It was like, 'Here, you got 15' … I didn't go to Denver for about two years after that, two seasons because of lockout and the scheduling and all that crazy sh-t, right? So now I'm seeing Denver 15. I'm like, ‘F--k is going on? 15?’...The disrespect in you offering that showed me that you just wanted to erase everything that came prior to that right there… But what I believe is that they gave him 15 to try to erase what I did… When you think of 15 in Denver now, to this generation, you [think the] Joker. And there's nothing towards that. It's just, it was two different generations. So that just goes to show me that y’all not past that moment. This is 2010. This is 13 years ago. So if you are, you are holding on to something that was 13 years ago."
Following Friday night's win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Jokic was asked how long he has worn No. 15, and got honest about how far back it goes for him.
"In my hometown I was wearing 15," Jokic said. "... I think I've been wearing 15 my whole life."