Carmelo Anthony believes his former team, the Denver Nuggets, are in a better position to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder this season. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
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Carmelo Anthony began his Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame career with the Denver Nuggets back in 2003.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft completely turned around a Nuggets franchise that was considered the worst in the NBA at the time. They had finished with a league-worst 17-65 record during the 2002-03 season and hadn’t advanced to the playoffs since the 1994-95 season.
During his first season with the Nuggets, Anthony led a 26-game turnaround and a playoff appearance for Denver while averaging 21.0 points per game.
Fast forward more than 20 years later and the Nuggets are one of the NBA’s elite powerhouses, having won the NBA Finals in 2023 and having established themselves as an annual contender in the rugged Western Conference due to three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
While the Oklahoma City Thunder are the defending NBA champions, Anthony believes that the Nuggets are better positioned to match up against the Thunder after losing to them in a seven-game series last season.
“They had the opportunity to beat OKC. You’re talking about a OKC team who obviously went on to win the NBA championship, who was incredible throughout the whole season. They got the MVP, the Sixth Man of the Year. They have everything over there.
“For Denver to take them with the team they had, fragile, a little bit injured and beaten up a little bit and not at full strength,” Anthony continues to say. “For them to put the team that they put around them this year, and go get guys who were there, who won with them before, to go get shooters. They just plug and play — they didn’t rebuild.”
Carmelo Anthony On This Year’s Denver Nuggets Squad: ‘They Have The Opportunity To Be That Top Team’
The Nuggets had a competitive seven-game series against the Thunder and are now rebuilt. While they lost key rotational pieces such as Russell Westbrook, Michael Porter Jr. and Dario Saric, they upgraded with players such as Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown.
Unsurprisingly, Anthony believes they could be the “top team” in the Western Conference.
“They went and got a couple pieces, and now they have the opportunity to be that top team in the West,” says Anthony. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we look up and we see Denver, a top 1-2-3 seed in the West.”
Despite the reload, executives still consider the Thunder to be the overwhelming favorites to win the Western Conference, with 18 of 20 voters in the West picking OKC. Only two voters picked the Nuggets to win the conference.
Anthony once again reiterates the Nuggets are in a “better position” than they were last year to dethrone the Thunder.
“I just think they’re in a better position for themselves, whether they beat OKC or not,” says Anthony. “That’s for us to see. I think they put themselves in a better position than they were last year. That just goes to show you what they focus on, they focus on winning. They focus on building around Joker and making sure Jamal Murray is back and going to get Tim Hardaway Jr. and bringing Bruce Brown back Cam Johnson. They put a really, really good team together when it came to plugging in these role players.”
Carmelo Anthony On Why He’s Partners With 1800 Milenio, Ultra-Premium Tequila Brand
The 41-year-old Anthony has a lot to celebrate these days. Not only was he recently inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the entrepreneur just renewed his partnership with 1800 Milenio, a well-known, ultra-premium tequila brand.
Anthony has multiple investments including in wine and cannabis companies. A big reason why Anthony is partnered with 1800 Milenio is due to their “authenticity,” something he repeatedly reiterates during our interview multiple times.
“The partnership with 1800 is about authenticity and legacy,” says Anthony. “I’ve always wanted to just align myself with brands that speak to culture and craftsmanship and 1800 does that. And post career it’s not just about putting my name on something and then trying to push it and onto the next. It’s really about building platforms that in a sense reflect who I am and what I stand for beyond basketball.”
The 10-time All-Star forward details that he’s a big tequila guy and doubles down on the authenticity and legacy of 1800 Milenio.
“It may sound cliche, but it is the authenticity of it, it is the legacy of it,” says Anthony. “It’s the craftsmanship of it, it’s what 1800 truly believes in, and how they define themselves and what they are actually is crafting in the culture behind it. That messaging and the product at the end of the day is what sells itself.
“If you have a good product, then you can do whatever hell you want to do,” Anthony continues. But also having the pillars that they live by, that they stand by, the culture, the craftsmanship, the authenticity, that legacy moment is what really attracted me to say, ‘Hey, this is something that I wanted to pursue.'”
Carmelo Anthony is partnering with 1800 Milenio for their “authenticity and legacy.” He also considers himself a “big tequila guy.”
1800 Milenio
The “Marking The Moment” slogan for 1800 Tequila is synonymous with Anthony’s own life, considering he was just inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Marking the moment is you walking into a place and saying ‘He was here. I mark my moment on that stage in the sense of the impact that I’ve made, the words that I’ve spoken up there, the authenticity that I was up there, that I walk around with.’ Marking the moment is just understanding where you are and why you’re there and being where your feet are. For me to be on that stage and understand where my feet were on that night, it puts a lot into perspective.”
Anthony — who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland — is also giving back to the community by opening up the House of Melo exhibit at Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library.
“That was a major part of it, and to be able to take over the largest free public library in the US, it says something about being back in Baltimore, being able to bring Baltimore together, being able to bring communities together, new people,” says Anthony. “It’s a real big moment, and then people get a chance to just walk through that timeline of the journey of what I had to go through. I’m excited about just getting that up and going and people coming into the library, but also getting people back into the library.”