Denver, CO
Carmelo Anthony: Nuggets gave Nikola Jokić No. 15 to ‘erase what I did’ with Denver
Nikola Jokic’s reaction after winning NBA Finals: “I need to go home.”
Nikola Jokic won NBA Finals MVP, and his team just won the NBA Finals. Nobody expected this very real reaction from Jokic when talking to the media.
Sports Seriously
Patrick Mahomes. Vince Carter. Dustin Pedroia. Tim Tebow.
These sports stars come to mind when thinking of No. 15.
For the Denver Nuggets, there’s not a clear-cut answer as to who is most-identified with the digit.
Carmelo Anthony was the first superstar to make No. 15 popular in the Mile High City. But recently, Nikola Jokić has put his stamp on the number.
In an episode of his “7 PM in Brooklyn” podcast that was published Thursday, Anthony shared with co-host The Kid Mero why he thinks the Nuggets gave Jokić his old jersey number.
“It was a petty maneuver,” Anthony said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we got numbers to choose from.’ It was like, ‘Here, you got 15.’”
Anthony was drafted by Denver with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 draft after he won the national championship with Syracuse. The Nuggets went to the playoffs in all of Anthony’s seven full seasons there, including a run to the 2009 Western Conference finals. He was named an All-Star four times and, alongside Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith and Allen Iverson, made the Nuggets a pop culture phenomenon with signature sneakers and powder blue jerseys.
Jokić is a two-time MVP and was named last year’s Finals MVP after Denver won its first championship. The Serbian star was picked up by the Nuggets in the second round of the 2014 NBA draft while the ESPN broadcast was showing a Taco Bell commercial.
Anthony said that Denver trading center Jusuf Nurkic in 2017 helped Jokić step into his own star power. At the time, Anthony was settled into life with the New York Knicks, where he started a new chapter wearing No. 7. Per his request, he was traded to the Big Apple after the 2011 All-Star break. There were reports that Anthony wasn’t happy in Denver and that he clashed with head coach George Karl.
Anthony, who officially retired in May after a 19-year career, said Denver giving his old number to Jokić continued a narrative that Anthony was a “disgruntled” athlete who didn’t appreciate his role in the mid-market city. Anthony said giving the number away was a sign of “disrespect.”
“I’m like, (expletive) is going on? 15?” he said. “So now, just start thinking, this is because this is the narrative that they put out there. ‘He wanted to leave. He wanted to do this.’ Nah. But why would you disrespect by even offering that? The disrespect in you offering that showed me that you just wanted to erase everything that came prior to that right there. So yeah, (expletive) y’all. You’re saying, (expletive) me dead smack to the rest of the world. Cool. I ain’t never said nothing bad about y’all.”
Anthony and Mero cited Jokić’s nonchalant attitude as reason for believing that the MVP wouldn’t have cared about what number he was given when he joined the franchise. They said that because of Anthony’s international reach — he was an Olympic athlete and a face of the NBA — it is possible Jokić intended to show respect to Anthony with the number.
“I don’t know. He could have worn it because he wanted to pay homage,” Anthony said. “But what I believe is that they gave him 15 to try to erase what I did. … Only thing I know is what I believe is that that was done purposely. That was a slap in the face.”
Jokić has worn No. 15 since his days playing youth basketball in Serbia, including in the ABA League before joining the NBA. According to The Athletic, Jokić first started wearing the number because he was the biggest kid on the team and the No. 15 jersey was the largest one.
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Denver, CO
Denver Barkey scores first career goal as Flyers take down Oilers
Item 1 of 33 Jan 3, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Philadelphia Flyers right winger Garnet Hathaway (19) skates on the ice during the pre game warm up as the Edmonton Oilers take on the Philadelphia Flyers before the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images
[1/33]Jan 3, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Philadelphia Flyers right winger Garnet Hathaway (19) skates on the ice during the pre game warm up as the Edmonton Oilers take on the Philadelphia Flyers before the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images Purchase Licensing Rights
January 3 – Denver Barkey’s first NHL tally highlighted a three-goal first period for the Philadelphia Flyers, who beat the host Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.
Travis Sanheim and Bobby Brink also scored in the first, while Nick Seeler and Owen Tippett each posted a goal with an assist and Sean Couturier added two helpers for the Flyers, who finished a 3-2-0 road trip. Dan Vladar made 22 saves for Philadelphia, which allowed 13 Edmonton shots on goal in the first period, but just 11 the rest of the way.
Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 15 games with his 25th goal of the season and Evan Bouchard also scored for the Oilers, who have dropped two straight and three of four.
Philadelphia made its mark early in the first period. Tippett passed the puck into the slot for a streaking Barkey, who beat Oilers’ Calvin Pickard (24 saves) for his milestone goal just 7:16 into the contest.
Barkey’s marker essentially set the tempo, as the visitors made it 2-0 with 9:29 left in the first when Sanheim beat Pickard from the right circle.
Philadelphia then extended its lead a little over four minutes later when an Edmonton turnover led to the puck deflecting into the net off the heel of Brink’s skate off a shot from Cam York.
Vladar, meanwhile, was solid by stopping 12 shots in the first period. However, he couldn’t prevent McDavid from scoring on a breakaway, which came off a Sanheim turnover in the neutral zone, with 3:52 remaining before the first intermission.
The Oilers made it 3-2 on the power play with 10:06 remaining in the second period. With an assist from McDavid, Bouchard unloaded a successful slap shot from the left point to give Edmonton at least one goal on the man advantage in nine of the last 10 games.
Philadelphia found some breathing room with 10:51 remaining in regulation off Seeler’s wrister for his first goal of the season. Tippett added an empty-netter as the Flyers scored at least five goals for the third time in their last six.
McDavid, meanwhile, has 14 goals with 22 assists in the last 15 games.
–Field Level Media
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Denver, CO
A franchise quarterback is vital to winning division titles
You might respond to this headline with ‘and water is wet’ and I wouldn’t blame you, but I was looking over the Denver Broncos history and how often they have won a division title. In their 65 years, the Broncos have brought home 16 AFC West division titles. That’s not very many, but given their first winning season was almost 20 years into it then it doesn’t look so bad.
The other thing I noticed is that only those teams who had a franchise quarterback type player under center did they repeat often as division winners. 11 of those 16 titles were won while John Elway or Peyton Manning were quarterbacking the franchise. Craig Morton won two backed by the vaunted Orange Crush defense of the 70s, but the rest were one-off division winners like Jake Plummer and Tim Tebow. Now that latter list includes Bo Nix.
The craziest stat that I found researching this topic was that all but one Broncos team that did not win the division were one-and-done in the playoffs. The lone team that wasn’t was that 1997 Super Bowl winning squad. Every single other team that finished second or third in the division and made the playoffs did not win a game once they got there. That doesn’t have much to do with the franchise quarterback topic here, but I found this little tidbit too interesting to not share.
As for the division winners, there were plenty of one-and-done seasons there too, but all of their playoff wins sans-1997 are also there.
The question I meant to get to sooner before going off on that side quest regarding the playoff outcomes was whether or not Bo Nix joins Elway and Manning or ends up with the Plummer and Morton’s of history of pretty good but not all-time great. A few playoff wins over the next month would certainly move the needle some before adding more division titles down the road.
Denver, CO
Denver police report increase in street racing arrests and citations in 2025
DENVER — Street racing continues to pose threats to Colorado drivers, so Denver7 looked into the trends we saw throughout 2025.
Denver Police report 80 citations and arrests as of December 17 for 2025. That’s 20 more than last year, according to Doug Schepman, director of communications for the Denver Police Department (DPD).
There is one strip of road in Denver we asked Schepman about specifically, after hearing from business owners that it’s particularly troublesome.
We’re talking about the 2000 block of S. Santa Fe Drive in Denver.
Michael Gray, owner of Discount Fishing Tackle, said it’s a weekly occurrence to watch or hear cars and motorcycles zip past.
“Recently, we’ve seen the kids on the motorcycles coming by with the front wheel in the air, going just as dangerous as can be, and especially dangerous because so many other people are going so fast on this road,” Gray said.
He said he’s noticed that as more turnoffs are removed and the spacing between traffic lights gets longer, more drivers tend to use it as their personal raceway.
“It doesn’t affect us really too much, but you don’t like to have something as dangerous as that going on all the time,” he said.
Schepman said patrol districts are aware that street racing occurs along this stretch of South Santa Fe Drive, and that officers are directed to patrol the area during periods when reports are more prevalent.
He adds that the community plays a critical part in helping investigators curb this problem.
The Colorado State Patrol said it has received more than 1,700 reports from the community this year.
You can continue to report street racing here.
Denver7
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Allie Jennerjahn
Denver7’s Allie Jennerjahn covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in reporting on crime, corruption and ways to protect your family. If you’d like to get in touch with Allie, fill out the form below to send her an email.
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