In a candid interview, Utah Jazz center Jusuf Nurkić claimed that 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony was late to nearly every practice and blew off most team meetings during their time together on the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jusuf Nurkić Claims Carmelo Anthony Was Constantly Late and Missing Meetings on Blazers
Anthony is widely regarded as one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, and he made six All-NBA teams during his career. However, Nurkić called out the former New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets star for his tardiness during their time together in Portland.
Nurkić spent six years with the Trail Blazers from 2017 to 2023, while Anthony arrived in 2019. The 6-foot-11 center says that the three-time Olympic gold medalist was the one player who did things his own way in Portland.
“We had that great mindset, starting with Damian Lillard, who was a real leader. He led by example. We never had any problems in the locker room. Whoever came in through trades had to fit into that system. Until Carmelo,” Nurkić said with a laugh on X&O’s Chat (as translated by Basketball Sphere).
Nurkić spoke about how Anthony would constantly turn up late to team meetings and practices during his stint with the Trail Blazers.
“He kind of stepped outside the system because he was always late, he missed almost every meeting,” Nurkić said. “The coach (Terry Stotts) was traumatized by that and didn’t want anyone to be late. And he didn’t have many rules, but he stuck to that one. Carmelo wasn’t like he didn’t want to come, he was like, ‘Nobody told me.’ If practice was at 10, he would show up at 10:45 because nobody told him it started then.
“He’s not a bad person at all. Far from it. He just had that flexibility, and the coach couldn’t really say anything, which made it even funnier. Later we would joke: where is Carmelo? There were no problems at all.”
Anthony’s stint with Portland came after a one-year absence from the NBA, and he averaged 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game as a starter during his first season with the Trail Blazers. He returned the following year and averaged 13.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game off the bench.
After two years with the Trail Blazers, Anthony signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for his final NBA season. He retired from basketball in 2023 after a legendary career spanning 19 seasons in the NBA.
Anthony is a Hall of Famer and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team who averaged 22.5 points and 6.2 rebounds over the course of his career.
