Carmelo Anthony is finally playing on the same team as LeBron James. The two friends have been in the league together for almost 20 years. But they never got to cross paths on the same team. And now, Melo has a chance to play with one of his best friends in the league while they pursue an NBA championship.
Melo has achieved a lot of success in the NBA, but the one thing that has eluded him is an NBA championship. The closest he came was the Western Conference Finals in 2009 when he and the Denver Nuggets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant. So Melo gets to join the team that kept him from a title as he pursues one himself.
Anthony recently said that not winning an NBA championship is the thing that keeps him up at night. And in response to that, his former head coach pointed out that he isn’t the only one who is bothered by the loss. Former NBA head coach George Karl took to Twitter to point out that he and the Nuggets coaching staff that worked with Anthony were consistently worrying about the team’s defensive abilities with Melo on the court. This is yet another shot from Karl, who has had a strained relationship with Anthony.
“And it kept our coaching staff up at night a decade ago when we were stressing the importance of team play and defense!”
And it kept our coaching staff up at night a decade ago when we were stressing the importance of team play and defense! 😆 https://t.co/riomQd667N
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) August 10, 2021
Melo and Karl had a pretty public falling out with Karl, which led to his departure from Denver. Karl has criticized Anthony for not being active enough on the defensive end. And because of their strained relationship, Anthony eventually left the Nuggets through a trade and joined the New York Knicks. And it is clear that the relationship has not gotten better over time. It will be interesting to see if the two can ever reconcile their differences.
