Kelenna Azubuike tells story of selling Knicks No.7 to Carmelo Anthony

When Kelenna Azubuike was still in the league, he sold his New York Knicks No.7 jersey to new teammate Carmelo Anthony, but for a lot less than what he expected.

Before taking the microphone as the Golden State Warriors broadcast analyst, Kelenna Azubuike played in the NBA from 2005-2012. Azubuike averaged 10.6 points per game over four seasons with the Warriors. However, his tenure in Golden State ended when he became apart of a package sent to New York in a sign-and-trade deal for David Lee.

Azubuike wore No. 7 in Golden State and continued to don the lucky number in New York until Carmelo Anthony arrived in the Big Apple.

In 2011 the Knicks acquired the All-Star forward from the Denver Nuggets. On arrival, Anthony requested Azubuike’s No. 7 jersey and got it.

When the Warriors traveled to Rip City, Anthony’s new home, Azubuike shared the story of what happened when he had to give up his No. 7 in the video below from NBC Sports Bay Area.

Like most professional sports jersey number exchanges, Azubuike expected Anthony to pay him handsomely for No. 7; instead, the former Kentucky Wildcat ended up with $3,000.

Upon first glance, $3,000 may seem like a nice come up for only exchanging a jersey number— yet, that season, Anthony cashed in a salary of $17,149,243 during his first year in New York while Azubuike notched $3,300,000 according to HoopsHype.

Six days after acquiring Anthony from Denver, the Knicks waived the then injured Azubuike from the team. During the Portland-Golden State broadcast, Azubuike joked that he’s still “salty” about having to sell Anthony his number for a low price.

With Azubuike on the call, Anthony got the last laugh as his Trail Blazers cruised by Golden State 122-112 in Portland.