“I was willing to take it other places.” Carmelo Anthony’s confession clearly indicated how serious his beef with Kevin Garnett was. It’s a story that almost every NBA fan has most likely heard. The fact that Garnett was a serial trash talker was no secret to anyone. There have been instances of him making his teammate cry with his trash talk and a rookie pretending to not know English to avoid any interaction altogether with KG. The most infamous one, however, is the former Boston Celtics star’s incident with Melo and the aftermath of it.

This was back in 2013 when Anthony was with the New York Knicks. And the two stars in discussion got involved in a heated altercation with just 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter. For a long time, the reports from many outlets stated that KG, during his trash talk with the Knicks star, said that his wife, La La, tasted like the famous cereal brand Honey Nut Cheerios. This angle of the incident became so popular that everyone believed this to be the case and origin of Anthony’s rage against Garnett. But what if we told you this story is not entirely accurate?

La La Anthony denied Honey Nut Cheerios remarks, while KG denied any insult at all

Both Kevin Garnett and La La Anthony have made it crystal clear: the comment never happened. “I’ve never said anything about anyone’s family,” Garnett had said, speaking to Michael Pina of GQ. “I’ve never said anything to Melo about La La. I’m a Frosted Flakes man. I’m not a Honey Nut Cheerios guy. I never knew where that came from. Let me clear that up.”

La La backed him up in her 2014 book The Love Playbook, where she described the whole thing as a big lie. She even admitted to being baffled about how such a random rumor took off.

“Kevin Garnett in fact had never said that I tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios,” she wrote in her book, The Love Playbook. She further stated in the 2014 released book that she tried figuring out how this “big lie” was turned into a media firestorm but she never found the answer.

La La even went to the extent of stating, “Melo and Kevin are cool today. And now it’s nothing but a faint memory.” For those unaware, La La was herself present at the game in discussion where the Celtics beat the Knicks 102-96. In her book, she recalled even asking Carmelo Anthony about what exactly transpired in the game.

“All he [Melo] said was that Kevin said things you shouldn’t say to a person you have a friendship with or respect for,” she wrote in the book. She further stated that although the exact insults weren’t disclosed, Anthony made it clear to Garnett that he wasn’t a rookie to be disrespected. “I’m sure the words were a little stronger than that but that was the gist of what Melo said back to Kevin,” she added.

Now, although the former Knicks star, in his podcast, agreed to the claim that Garnett never made Honey Nut Cheerios remarks, he denied KG’s aforementioned claim that the Celtics star never insulted his wife.

Carmelo Anthony and his teammates give out a detailed take and narration of the night of the incident

“That was one that I held for a while. That was a real issue that I had. Like a real issue, I was willing to take it other places. That’s the only one” — Anthony’s early take on the incident was quite raw and strong. But it seems, after all these years, he can talk about the incident without much rage in his voice. And that’s exactly what he did in an episode of his podcast, nearly a decade after the infamous feud.

“I was there; this sh*t was never said,” Shumpert insisted. He further raised the point that why would anyone be mad at someone for using Honey Nut Cheerios as an insult? “Out of all insults, y’all think KG’s promoting a cereal brand?” Fair point that makes you wonder how these wild rumors even get started.

Melo, however, did add to this that Garnett did cross the line with his comments. No wonder that he waited for Garnett after the game for a one-on-one confrontation. “All I see is KG walking, it’s five security. I think a whole floor of ushers. They got police officers all type of sh*t. KG was like ‘Melo, over a basketball game?’‘” Shumpert recalled the details.

What about closure, though? Did the two ever hash things out? Turns out, no. Despite playing together at All-Star weekend later on, the two veterans never addressed the incident. “We ain’t never get to the bottom of this sh*t,” Melo admitted. So, it’s clear that Garnett never used the Honey Nut Cheerios. He was, in fact, insulting La La in his trash talk with Carmelo Anthony.