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Carmelo Anthony’s trade from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks went down as one of the biggest blockbuster trades this century, but according to Anthony, it almost played out differently.
Making an appearance on The Why with Dwyane Wade, Anthony explained that before the trade in 2011, the Nuggets originally had a deal set up to send him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“The deal was done with the Lakers,” Anthony said (1:36:00 mark). “Me and Nenê for Lamar Odom and (Andrew) Bynum. That deal was done. I never thought about New York.”
Anthony said he believes the trade to Los Angeles fizzled out because the Nuggets didn’t want to worry about having to play him in the playoffs.
“Now it’s like, y’all don’t want me in the West,” Anthony said. “Gonna send me to the East, get me to New York.”
He also mentioned that once the Nuggets decided to trade him to the East, they originally had a different team in mind.
“The deal never was with New York, the deal was with New Jersey Nets,” Anthony said. “When it was All-Star Weekend, the deal was with the Nets.”
Anthony was ultimately sent to New York for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and draft picks, and the rest was history.
Anthony spent six-plus seasons with the Knicks before eventually moving on to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017. During his time with New York, Anthony led the team to a few playoff appearances, but could never make the leap and take the Knicks to the Finals.
He gave Knicks fans a lot to be excited about, however, putting up some huge scoring performances at Madison Square Garden, including a career-high 62 points in 2014.
After his time with the Knicks, Anthony took on a different role in the later stages of his career, with his last season coming with the Lakers in 2021-22.
With Anthony’s story of how he was almost traded to the Lakers, fans can only wonder what could have happened had the prolific scorer teamed up with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles during his prime.
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