What the f*** is wrong with you?” – Carmelo Anthony on confronting George Karl after his book painted him in a bad light…Read down 👇👇
“What the f*** is wrong with you?” – Carmelo Anthony on confronting George Karl after his book painted him in a bad light
This could explain why Anthony and Karl are still beefing to this day.
APR 5, 2024
DENVER NUGGETS
Carmelo Anthony was one of the more divisive players in the NBA during his prime. While he was extremely talented, he was labeled as a diva by some fans, which led to him not being as popular of a player as he probably should have been.
Fans weren’t the only ones who didn’t like Melo, as one of his former coaches, George Karl, has had a long-running feud with him. It culminated in Karl bashing Anthony in a book he published, leading the legendary scorer to confront his former coach.
Melo wasn’t happy with portrayal in the book
In the second season of his career with the Denver Nuggets, Karl was brought in to be the team’s new head coach, pairing him up with a rising star in Anthony. They worked together for six-and-a-half seasons until he got traded to the New York Knicks.
The duo had their fair share of run-ins when they were together, but things escalated once Anthony was traded. Karl bashed him in a book he published shortly after the move, leading Melo to call him out when the Nuggets visited New York for the first time after the trade.
“Now I’m on the Knicks, and this is the first time that Denver is coming to the Knicks because of the lockout and all of that s***,” Carmelo Anthony said on 7PM In Brooklyn. “So now, his book is out. This is when he start tweeting, putting the quotes out and they go on fire. So I say, ‘Look, when George Karl come in, I’m not going to shoot around, I’m going straight to the locker room. I’m going to Denver’s shootaround.'”
“And I went in the shootaround in the Garden, after the shootaround, me and you gotta have a conversation. ‘What the f*** is going on? What I do to you? Why do you like that? Why you keep putting me in your books and quotes, and you trying to sell books? What the f*** is wrong with you?’ ‘Melo, don’t believe everything.’ What?”
“Bro, it’s your quotes, I read the footnotes, I read the f***ing cliffnotes and all of that of the book. It’s Melo on every page, that’s what it feel like. He like ‘I apologize, man. I never had no ill intentions against you. I only cared about you, and you’re one of the greatest players I’ve ever coached.’ Then you say some other s*** later on. It’s like, come on, man, I’m not f***ing with that.”
Anthony and Karl’s beef is still ongoing
Karl dealt with several superstars during his time coaching in the NBA, but he never took shots at anyone to the extent he did with Anthony. Their relationship had already been shaky, pushing Melo to confront his former coach about what he had said.
According to Melo, Karl told him not to believe everything he reads and that he was sorry for offending his former player. That sounds great in concept, but Karl kept on bashing Anthony after that exchange, and he hasn’t really stopped since then.
The Anthony-Karl beef has drawn a lot of attention in NBA circles, with many former players defending the retired forward and called out Karl for his treatment of him. Despite that, Karl has been resolute in not backing down and continuing to lash out against Melo.
It’s a strange situation, especially since it’s been well over a decade since their time together in Denver ended. However, it doesn’t seem like these two guys will be mending their fences anytime soon, and this incident could help explain why that’s the case.
