Carmelo Anthony was infamously left out of the Heat Big 3 because he did not want to leave the Denver Nuggets. As he has said many times before, Anthony was part of the initial talks when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade thought about teaming up in 2010. But because his Nuggets had just played in the 2009 Western Conference Finals, Melo felt he was in a good spot and would rather build on his success there than start over elsewhere.

But the Nuggets decided to rebuild after that debacle, and Melo became the odd man out because he was already at a point in his career where winning an NBA championship had become his priority. So, he decided to have a honest discussion with the Nuggets about his future.

"I said look, if y'all are going to rebuild, let's work on this together, and let's get to a place," Anthony said. "They came to me and said, what places do you want? I said there's only one place I want to go to, and it's New York."

Because Melo did not want to be part of a rebuilding team, he initially considered the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks to be his best landing spots. However, he eliminated the Lakers because the Nuggets were unwilling to give up Nene Hilario along with him for Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. And so it was "Big Apple."

In Melo's words, the Knicks were 'lit' during that time. Amar'e was putting up huge numbers. Aside from STAT, they had Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, and Landry Fields, who were putting up double-digit scoring numbers. But the Nuggets initially balked at the idea of sending Anthony to the Knicks because they already had a deal with the Utah Jazz.

"They say, oh no, because New York has nothing that we want, but we have a deal in Utah for you," added Melo. "George Karl wanted to send me to Utah. They had a deal for Derrick Favors. He wanted Derrick Favors because they were rebuilding, so he wanted a young power forward."

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But the drama did not end there. The New Jersey Nets entered the picture, and this time around, the Nuggets negotiated with them without Anthony's knowledge. The former Syracuse star said that he was on a plane on his way back to Denver after the 2011 NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles when he was told to get off the plane because he was headed to Jersey.

"It was deals on the table without me even knowing that I saw on the media," Melo recalled. "I'm with the whole fam, and we looking at the TV, and it's like, 'Damn, you going to Jersey.' 'What you mean? Where'd you see that?' 'Nah, that sh*t is all on the TV. Like word, I'm going to Jersey?' Gotta think twice about it. Them is leaving, right? They going to Brooklyn. You think I'm gonna leave to go to Jersey when I know you guys are leaving? Sh*t was like Prudential over there."

Anthony refused to commit to signing an extension with the Nets because they were a struggling team. New Jersey eventually backed out of the deal, and New York entered the picture. And so, shortly before the 2011 NBA trade deadline, the Nuggets granted Anthony's wish to play for his dream franchise.