Many damaged coach-player relationships have existed in sports, but none has had the amount of bad blood like former UNC player turned NBA coach [autotag]George Karl[/autotag] and [autotag]Carmelo Anthony[/autotag].
Karl coached Anthony for the Denver Nuggets, and ever since their breakup that saw Anthony get traded to the New York Knicks, the two have shared jabs. Well, we now have a bit more insight into what went wrong between the two, with Anthony describing how everything went wrong as soon as Karl was hired for the head coaching job.
Karl already had a coaching career that spoke for itself with 16 seasons already under his belt, including the 90s Seattle Sonics team led by Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, and Sam Perkins. However, never getting the ultimate prize of an NBA championship, Karl had plenty to prove and was paired up with the 3rd overall pick to get that job done.
Anthony revealed on his Podcast that in the first meeting with Karl, he called him overrated. Karl confirmed this story on the X platform while sharing the viral snippet.
Hey @carmeloanthony 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. 😆
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) February 16, 2024
The wild exchange sent social media into a frenzy, with hoop fans taking sides between the two. Since posting the snippet Friday, it has garnered more than 5 million views.
Let’s take a look at how social media reacted to Karl calling Anthony overrated.