Former Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl called his former star player Carmelo Anthony “overrated” Thursday night on Twitter.
Karl was responding to a video of former Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony recounting the tale of the pair’s first meeting in Denver where Melo claims Karl also called him overrated all the way back in 2004.
“We get to Milwaukee, after shoot around he called me to his room to tell me, ‘hey, man, I think you’re overrated, I think you have a lot of work to do,'” Melo said on his podcast “7PM In Brooklyn.”
Thoughts on this? @CoachKarl22 pic.twitter.com/plDcUaF6uU
— Scott Reba (@ScottRebaa) February 16, 2024
Karl responded, quoting the video on Twitter and saying, “Hey Carmelo Anthony let’s not do this. You’re telling stories that are 20 years old. Let’s move fwd And u were overrated and u wish your game was as efficient as Detlef’s,” the Basketball Hall of Famer tweeted Thursday night.
This is hilarious. In the same tweet, Karl says he wants to move forward but then doubles down on his insult in an expert-level troll job. (RELATED; ‘Some Guys In Cabo’: Bucks’ Doc Rivers Castigates His Squad For Lack Of Focus)
While it may be somewhat funny, it’s almost objectively false. Carmelo Anthony is easily one of the best scorers, and really one of the best players outright, in NBA history. His 28,289 points make him the NBA’s ninth-highest scorer of all time, putting him above Hall-of-Famers like Dominique Wilkins and Moses Malone.
While Anthony was never the most efficient scorer, he was at one point one of the most feared players on any court.
Karl, in his own right, was a fantastic coach. While he never quite reached the pinnacle of a championship, his 1,999 coaching wins place him at sixth all-time. But Karl’s ornery personality has often put him at odds with his players, most notably Kenyon Martin.
“Everyone that’s played for that awful person and coach can’t stand the ground he walks on,” Martin tweeted in 2016.
Everyone that’s played for that awful person and coach can’t stand the ground he walks on
— Kenyon Martin Sr. (@KenyonMartinSr) December 22, 2016
Now apparently Melo joins that list as well.