“When you go out hunting, would you rather have a bigger gun or a little gun? We got a bigger gun,” coach Mike D’Antoni had said back in 2011 after Carmelo Anthony‘s addition to the New York Knicks. Being traded by the Denver Nuggets alongside Chauncey Billups, it seemed like the Knicks’ long-lost dream had finally come to fruition with Amare Stoudemire and Anthony in the frontcourt. Anthony, on the other hand, was also equally elated. “It’s a dream come true for me, and I’m ready to rock,” he had said already dreaming of a championship. However, a shining new weapon in the team also meant an unwanted barter for many.

In simple words: The cost of acquiring a superstar like Anthony was an exchange featuring Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a 2014 first-round pick and the swap rights in 2016. But perhaps Gallinari was the one who took it most to the heart—amply evident by his demeanor about the exit.

“Well, to be honest with you, it’s tough to leave New York. It’s tough but it’s a part of the NBA life and it’s a part of how the NBA works so you’ve got to deal with that,” the Italian player had said after a practice session, weeks before the trade. Cut to 14 years later, and Gallinori talks about the situation with the same passion.

During an appearance on the Run Your Race podcast on June 17, the 36-year-old opened up about just how fast the NBA can flip on you. “I figured it out very soon—my third season in the NBA… I’m with the Knicks,” he said. “I’m thinking, ‘Coming off a great year… we’re winning, we got Stoudemire, Raymond Felton…a lot of guys in free agency. We winning, we in New York. So I’ve experienced the New York when you’re losing. And now when we winning—I’m loving it’. The city’s going crazy. We got paparazzi following us—something that I’ve never experienced in my life. If I have lunch in New York…we can’t have lunch because we got to have security. It’s like crazy stuff. I’m loving it… I’m thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to be a Knicks for the next 10 years’.”

But then came the curveball. “I talked to the GM, he’s happy. The coach is happy. Everybody’s happy,” Gallo recalled. “Here comes the trade deadline—my agent tells me, ‘You are on the table.’ I’m like, okay… I don’t know anything about the business. I’m like, ‘Whatever…Okay, I’ll play the next game’. I’m thinking about the next practice, the next game. I don’t care. I talked to the GM and the coach. They want to have a meeting with me. [They tell me], ‘We don’t want this trade. We want you here. We don’t want this trade’.”

The player further added, “Next thing you know, the owner comes in—‘You are out.’ The famous Melo trade—Melo and Chauncey to the Knicks, and four of the five starters of the Knicks in Denver. We out.” Notably, the Knicks still made the playoffs with a 42–40 record but got swept away by the Celtics. The idea was to build around Melo and Stoudemire—and sure, there was excitement, especially with Jeremy Lin’s rise in 2012-13—but deep playoff success never followed.

Meanwhile, Denver quietly made the most of the situation. With the new pieces, they stayed competitive and even posted a 57–25 record in 2012-13. While the Knicks peaked with a second-round exit that same year, the Nuggets thrived without a single “superstar,” proving that sometimes depth and balance win out over a blockbuster headline.

But, did you know? That deal was never supposed to happen, as Melo was actually headed to another franchise.

Carmelo Anthony says Lakers deal was done before Knicks stepped in

Carmelo Anthony had no idea he was headed to New York—because, well, he wasn’t supposed to be, as reported by SI. “The deal was done with the Lakers,” Melo told Dwyane Wade on The Why. “Me and Nenê for Lamar Odom and (Andrew) Bynum. That deal was done. I never thought about New York.” Looks like the original plan had him teaming up with Kobe Bryant in L.A., not lighting up the Garden in Knicks blue and orange.

But just as the purple-and-gold dream was taking shape, Denver shut it down. According to Anthony, it was all about not wanting to face him out West. “Now it’s like, y’all don’t want me in the West,” he said. “Gonna send me to the East, get me to New York.” And while it seemed for a minute like the New Jersey Nets were his likely destination, he wasn’t feeling that either. “If you were in Brooklyn next year, I would be there,” Melo said. “I can’t play at the Prudential Center, champ. I just can’t. I can’t do that.”

So the Knicks swooped in and got their guy. Melo made it clear: if he was going East, it was going to be Manhattan or nowhere. And while the Kobe-Melo Lakers duo never came to life, New York got a prime-time scorer who gave the city plenty to cheer for. In 412 games as a Knick, Anthony averaged 24.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.2 assists—along with countless nights where the Garden crowd chanted his name like it was a playoff game in June.

Danilo Gallinari’s reflections sum up what so many NBA players learn the hard way: Loyalty doesn’t always stop a blockbuster. His Knicks exit still stings, and fans haven’t forgotten what could’ve been.