Nuggets Were Prepared for Trade They Didn’t Want to Make

Last summer’s conversation culminated this week with the completion of a three-team, 13-player deal that centered on Anthony. In between were months of starts, stops, rumors and, finally, the trade of one of the game’s best offensive players.

“As much as we did try to show him there was a future here, there was never any wooing on our part,” Kroenke said. “Carmelo made it very clear to me personally that it was probably going to be a situation where he wasn’t going to be here next year.”

At the meeting, Kroenke informed Anthony — who said the request was made with his family in mind — that a trade to the Knicks would be difficult. But the Bulls would not include Joakim Noah in a deal, and Anthony did not want to sign a contract extension with the Nets despite their tenacious efforts to acquire him.

Kroenke and Masai Ujiri, Denver’s first-year general manager, met with Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ president, when the Nets hosted Denver on Jan 31. Less than two weeks earlier, the Nets’ owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, abruptly canceled his team’s pursuit of Anthony, only to resurface in discussions last week. The Nets and the Knicks wound up bidding against one another.

“Whenever the trade became close, it was myself and Jim Dolan on the phone, and I didn’t have any direct conversations with Donnie,” Kroenke said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect with Donnie because Mark Warkentien, who was here the last several years and was just hired in New York, speaks very highly of Donnie.”

Kroenke and Ujiri addressed the trade in a news conference after weeks of “No comments” and expressed relief and concern, but said they had to submit to Anthony’s preferences to maximize their return.

“We feel we got killed in this trade because we lost a couple of pretty good players,” Ujiri said. “Obviously Carmelo Anthony, I feel sad for the city of Denver. I feel bad that this was done on my watch to lose a guy like that, and also Chauncey.”

Point guard Chauncey Billups, a Denver native who played high school and college ball here, was also sent to the Knicks.

“You lose a star player like Melo, it’s really hard to get value back,” Ujiri said. “There’s no question about it.”

Kroenke and Ujiri mentioned Kosta Koufos, a backup center from Minnesota, who became the last part of the trade. They also apologized to Billups and his family, and said that his inclusion delayed the deal.

“He is Denver basketball,” Kroenke said.