Carmelo Anthony has been rumored to be joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
Anthony and LeBron James are close friends. Does ‘Bron know anything about it happening?
“I have no idea to be honest,” James told Spectrum Sportsnet last night.
“That’s not a question to ask me. Right now we have 15 roster spots right? We don’t even have a roster spot open right now. But that’s not a question for myself.”
The third overall pick in the 2003 draft, Anthony sat out of the Rockets’ last three games with what the team called “an illness.”
Anthony, who has averaged 24 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3 assists in his career with both the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets career that also included stints with the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks.
A ten-time NBA All Star, Anthony signed with the Houston Rockets this summer after clearing waivers in the trade that shipped him from the Oklahoma City Thunder the Atlanta Hawks.
Per Harrison Faigan of SB Nation:
James is correct that the Lakers’ roster is full, making a Melo/Lakers team-up impossible as things currently stand. That noted, the Lakers could fairly easily waive a cheaper contract like Ivica Zubac if they really wanted to add Anthony.
Will they do so? It seems unlikely. Anthony is whatever the opposite of a Luke Walton player is, a once-great scorer who doesn’t understand that he’d need to have his role reduced to succeed in the modern NBA, and isn’t exactly a willing ball-mover or defender.
Things might be different if James was going to publicly or privately pressure the organization to give his old friend another shot, but so far he’s shown no signs of doing so. He also now had the perfect opportunity to publicly and seamlessly light a fire under the team to sign Anthony, and instead demurred.
For someone who understands the power of their voice like James, this would not seem to be an accident. So for now, between the Lakers’ roster situation and James’ lack of pushing to add Anthony — who the Rockets haven’t even officially waived yet — it doesn’t appear that the team will be signing Melo any time soon.
GettyCarmelo Anthony gets smothered by the defense.
Anthony’s last appearance for Houston came in a blowout loss to Oklahoma City on Nov. 8 when he had two points and five rebounds.
“Carmelo had a tremendous approach during his time with the Rockets and accepted every role head coach Mike D’Antoni gave him,” Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey said in a released statement. “The fit we envisioned when Carmelo chose to sign with the Rockets has not materialized, therefore we thought it was best to move on as any other outcome would have been unfair to him.”
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LeBron James on Carmelo Anthony, Lakers: “I Have No Idea”