Carmelo Anthony's hilarious LeBron James response to Knicks' JR Smith, Iman Shumpert trade

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The New York Knicks have gotten off to a solid start to the 2024-25 NBA season, currently sitting at 10-7 after Monday evening’s dominant road win over the Denver Nuggets. The Knicks have come a long way since the end of the Carmelo Anthony tenure in the mid to late 2010s, in which the team was the laughing stock of the NBA.

The end of the Knicks’ competitive days with Anthony at the helm really began when the team traded away both JR Smith and Iman Shumpert to the Cleveland Cavaliers midway through the 2014-15 season. Recently, Shumpert stopped by Anthony’s 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast, and Anthony shared his candid reaction to the Knicks’ front office’s decision when it happened.

“I told Bron, ‘oh, that’s what we’re doing?'” joked the former Knicks star. “When it happened, the only thing going through my mind is Bron. I know this is a chess game… I can use Shump and JR to go win a championship. That’s why I flipped out in the locker room.”

Shumpert then described his account of Anthony’s reaction.

“In that room, all you hear is just boom, boom, water splashing,” said Shumpert.

“You do not touch this nucleus right here,” said Anthony. “I don’t give a f*** what you do. I said ‘yo, y’all can’t say s*** to me. Do you know what the f*** y’all just did? You’re going to send them to him?… Y’all don’t give a f*** about me. This s*** is nasty. This put them over the top.”

The trade with the Knicks paid almost immediate dividends for the Cavaliers, as both played a crucial role in Cleveland’s demolition of the Eastern Conference bracket of the postseason before the team’s plethora of injuries ultimately caught up to them in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

However, both Smith and Shumpert played a large part in helping the Cavaliers secure their first NBA championship the following season in a rematch vs Golden State.

Meanwhile, the Knicks effectively fell off of a cliff after the departure of Smith and Shumpert that year, ultimately finishing the season with a dismal record of 17-65 after an injury to Anthony sidelined the Knicks star for the rest of the year.

While he may be able to laugh about it now, Anthony was clearly not happy with the Knicks’ front office at the time for trading away arguably his two most reliable teammates that season.

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