Darko Milicic vs Carmelo Anthony: The 20 year-old Draft feud

Twenty years has passed since one of the best Drafts in NBA History. The 2003 edition had LeBron James as the undisputed first pick as he ended up being the player who survided the hype. The second pick could've change the whole NBA landscape as we now it today. The Detroit Pistons were an excellent team and on top of that, they held that huge lottery pick in a Draft that was heavily loaded with talent...But they went for Darko Milicic, a serbian power forward who was exactly what the Pistons were looking for, or at least that's what they thought. Carmelo Anthony was left behind and ended up being selected with the third pick by the Denver Nuggets.

The 2003 NBA Draft was loaded with talents such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh among others. Darko Milicic was among those talented players, seen as a promising european power forward who could cement the Pistons Dynasty for the years to come. Until this day, everyone wonders what could've happened if the Pistons would've drafted Carmelo Anthony.

Melo had a phenomenal year in Syracuse, winning the NCAA Championship. He had a big frame and a quick first step, and was seen as a prolific scorer, with every shot on his bag. Being picked after Milicic was always something that bothered the future Hall of Famer.

"I heard stories about Darko and the Detroit Pistons, and I immediately got ready to head there. I had to find out where he trained to track him down. Where are they hiding him? I wondered. I went to every gym to find him. Yes, that’s a true story. I wanted to find him, beat him one-on-one, and show that I should have been the first pick for the Detroit Pistons," Anthony said, speaking on Dwayne Wade’s podcast.

"He’s still whining about something to this day… What are you whining about? You’re third! What do you want? Are you crazy? Maybe if I were third, I’d still be playing, and he’d be picking apples," Milicic said on the Jao Mile podcast to another former Serbian NBA player, Mile Ilic.

“I heard he was after me, but I didn’t see him; I have no idea. If he wanted, he would’ve seen me, he would’ve found me, he knew where I was. Those are their gangster stories, you know, like: ‘I was looking for him to show him.’ What do you want to show me? I heard his emotions got the better of him; he needs to calm down pronto,” Milicic concluded.

As we know, basketball players, especially american basketball players have that proud. They want to be the bests and they want to beat the bests. There's no question, Melo's career was definitely huge. There's no point comparing him with Milicic. However, Anthony appears to be salty even after 20 years. He's still annoyed that Darko was picked before him.