Should the Nuggets retire the No. 15 jersey of Carmelo Anthony, who will be elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025?

Kyle Fredrickson, Broncos beat reporter

Answer: No

It’s easy to be nostalgic for those baby-blue jerseys, George Karl’s scowl and the entire Carmelo Anthony era of Nuggets basketball. Who didn’t revel in their unforgettable run to the 2009 Western Conference finals?

But let’s not play revisionist history and elevate Anthony (No. 15) to the company of Alex English (2), David Thompson (33), Dikembe Mutombo (55) and other team legends with their numbers in the rafters at Ball Arena.

The No. 15 will always be synonymous with its true owner in Denver: Nikola Jokic.

Sorry, Melo. But how can you expect us to get back together when you wanted the breakup?

Let’s go back to 2010. Anthony refused to sign a Nuggets contract extension, demanded a trade and landed with his top choice: the New York Knicks. But he never got closer to a championship. New York made it out of the first round once over seven seasons with Anthony.

That didn’t stop Anthony from claiming the Knicks since his own retirement.

He’s been a regular at Madison Square Garden and a ghost at Ball Arena. What’s worse? He’s gone out of his way to alienate the Nuggets since. Like last year, on his “7 PM in Brooklyn” podcast, Anthony said his former team gave Jokic the No. 15 to “try to erase what I did.”

Fact check: Jokic, a second-round draft pick in 2014, is the second Nuggets player to wear No. 15 (Anthony Randolph) since Melo left Denver.

Retiring a jersey signals a deep connection between a beloved former player and fans who pay good money for tickets. The diehards at Ball Arena deserve better than forcing a make-nice moment with a former disgruntled player.

Let’s all just move on. Raise No. 15… for Jokic.

Tyler King, college sports reporter

Answer: Yes

As someone who fell in love with the game in the early 2000s, Carmelo Anthony was the Nuggets — until Nikola Jokic burst onto the scene in the late 2010s.

For those who didn’t grow up in the area and knew the history of Alex English, Dan Issel and the nine straight playoff appearances of the 1980s, until Anthony was drafted in 2003, the Nuggets were irrelevant. Anthony was an immediate floor raiser. He led the Nuggets to the playoffs as a rookie and every one of his full seasons in the Mile High City. He made Denver basketball fun again and lifted the franchise out of the shadow of the Broncos and Avalanche in this underrated basketball town.

Yes, the breakup was ugly. But ‘Melo is an all-time Nugget — and deserves to be remembered as such. He’s fourth in franchise history in minutes and points. Only Jokic and English have made more All-Star teams in Denver. Only Jokic has been selected to more All-NBA teams.

There should be two No. 15s in the rafters of Ball Arena. There’s a precedent for it, too.

Three other NBA teams have retired one number for multiple players. The last to do it? The Portland Trail Blazers. On Dec. 16, 2008, the Blazers retired No. 30 for Terry Porter, a legend in Portland who twice helped lead the franchise to the NBA Finals. Two days later, another No. 30 went into the rafters of the Rose Garden — that of Bob Gross, a member of the 1977 championship team.

Whenever Joker decides to hang ’em up, he should get a statue outside Ball Arena and, as soon as he’s ready, get his No. 15 in the rafters.

A few days later, Melo’s No. 15 should go up alongside Joker’s. There, problem solved.