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Carmelo Anthony told the Denver Nuggets he wanted a trade during his eighth season in the NBA. He had his eyes set on joining the New York Knicks and guiding the team back to the former glory they enjoyed in the 1990s.
He has said that if he had won a title for New York, he would have retired right after. However, Nuggets coach George Karl almost sent him to the Utah Jazz for a package centered around Derrick Favors.
Anthony broke down the situation with Amar'e Stoudemire on Thursday's episode of “7PM in Brooklyn.” At the time, Anthony was one of the brightest young stars in the game. He, along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Paul, were preparing to take over the next era of the NBA and command the 2010s.
Anthony worked with the Nuggets in 2011 to find a place where he could go in a trade. Denver wanted a trade partner that would have enough young pieces and draft equity to help begin their rebuild. However, he had his heart set on New York despite the Jazz's offer of Favors.
“I said look, if y’all are going to rebuild, let's work on this together, and let’s get to a place,” Anthony said. “They came to me and said, what places do you want? I said there’s only one place I want to go to, and it’s New York.
“They say, oh no, because New York has nothing that we want, but we have a deal in Utah for you. George Karl wanted to send me to Utah. They had a deal for Derrick Favors. He wanted Derrick Favors because they were rebuilding, so he wanted a young power forward.”
At the time, Karl had a decent team built around his own core of younger pieces. Anthony would replace Favors as the power forward and play alongside Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Gordon Hayward, and Devin Harris.
However, the Nuggets respected Anthony's wishes and sent him to the Knicks in exchange for Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, and a 2014 first-round pick that became Mitch McGary.
It ended up being a good decision for Anthony, who is one of the greatest players in Knicks franchise history.
