DENVER -- The mood was Melo-choly at the Pepsi Center.

Only, the anguish Tuesday had as much -- if not more -- to do with Chauncey Billups' departure as it did Carmelo Anthony's.

Coach George Karl echoed a community's sadness in seeing its hometown hero, who wanted to stay put, leave for the Big Apple along with the superstar who wanted out. Anthony was one of the best players in Denver Nuggets history, but Billups was possibly its most popular.

In a three-team swap that was finalized Tuesday, the Nuggets dealt their top two players along with three backups to the New York Knicks for a package of four young players, three draft picks and cash in a megadeal that reshapes both franchises.

Karl said he was relieved the Anthony trade saga was finally over but, like several of his players, he lamented the loss of Billups, who led the Nuggets to the Western Conference finals two years ago after he was acquired from the Detroit Pistons.

"I can't deny that when the trade went down last night, I was kind of more sad than happy," Karl said after his team's short-handed shootaround Tuesday. "I think most of that sadness was because of Chauncey -- and A.C. a little bit, too."

The blockbuster three-team trade also sent Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams and Renaldo Balkman to New York for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov. The Nuggets also got center Kosta Koufos from Minnesota.

The Nuggets could have lost Anthony to free agency without any compensation after the season like the Cleveland Cavaliers did when LeBron James bolted for Miami last summer.

So, that kind of haul led Karl to exclaim that the new front office team of Masai Ujiri and Josh Kroenke "hit a home run the first time up."

"I think they did a great job," Karl said. "And the kitchen got hot. The kitchen got hot and they did a great job of keeping their composure and direction. I think they get philosophically what they want and we get philosophically what we want as a coaching staff. So, it's a win-win. And I think it's a win-win for the Knicks, too. So, I think Donnie Walsh and Mark Warkentien in a strange way, we all I think worked the dynamics of a very difficult situation into a win-win."

Except for losing Billups, that is.

Billups is a former NBA finals MVP and All-Star who remains one of the league's top point guards at 34. He grew up in Denver and attended the University of Colorado and had hoped to finish his career with the Nuggets.