Michael Porter Jr., Jabari Smith Jr. hilariously called out by Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay

The 2024-25 season is back in full swing, and the league’s young players are continuing to make promising improvements. Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. and Houston Rockets big man Jabari Smith Jr. are on a mission to help their teams climb the Western Conference. However, the two stars were comically called out by Carmelo Anthony and Rudy Gay during a podcast appearance in mid-November.

Anthony and Gay reminisced on times when younger players figuratively called them old, with Gay sharing his Jabari Smith Jr. story first:

“We played Houston, Jabari Smith. He had just got there. He checked in. It’s the fourth quarter. He was like, “I thought you would try to come at me. I used to watch you growing up. I’m like d***… I’m like, this ain’t 2010,” Gay told Anthony before erupting in laughter on an episode of 7 PM in Brooklyn.

If Rudy Gay’s story is not interesting enough, Anthony’s will get fans laughing even harder.

Carmelo Anthony had to educate Michael Porter Jr. 

“The worst is, ‘Yo I ain’t know you still had that’… We playing Denver. This is the first I’ve played them in a long time. Go back. Michael Porter is guarding me. I catch him on like the right elbow and just catch it, post, quick jab, go left, and lay it up. He like, ‘D*** unc, I ain’t know you still had that,” Anthony shared with the group.

At 26, Michael Porter Jr. is older than 21-year-old Jabari Smith Jr., so the Nuggets forward should have known that Carmelo Anthony did in fact still have one of his signature offensive skills. Nevertheless, both young players were happy to be able to guard two of the most impactful scorers in the mid-2000s era of the NBA.

The league continues to gain an influx of talent every year. All young players will eventually become veterans, but as illustrated in this comical story, skills can be admired for a long time.