Carmelo Anthony is clearing the air between himself and Los Angeles Lakers veteran forward Jared Dudley.
As Anthony remained without a job for over a year, many brought Dudley into the conversation as a scapegoat, wondering why the 13-year vet had a job and Melo — a future Hall of Famer — did not.
Dudley found a home with the Lakers — long thought to be a landing spot for Anthony — on a one-year, $2.6 million deal. He’s averaged just over seven minutes and 1.3 points per game this season.
Dudley has been a solid role player in his career as a 39.4% 3-point shooter and is also a solid locker room presence. However, he’s the classic type of player that does not appear to be in supreme physical shape, leading to fans calling him out, saying they could take him 1-on-1.
I’ll play you for 5k! Your ball I’ll spot you 5pts. If you have a girl bring her so she can see you get embarrassed t.co/K3t9tWoQVy
Even former players addressed Anthony being jobless and Dudley having a spot on an NBA roster.
“How is [LeBron] letting his banana boat buddy wait out there in the wings? And they go sign Jared Dudley and not Carmelo,” said Royce White, who plays in the BIG3.
“If anybody watching this thinks that Jared Dudley can hold Carmelo Anthony’s jock strap, I’ll slap you.”
Dudley might have said it best in a tweet in August (which was later deleted) addressing the issue after the comments from White.
“This isn’t Melo vs myself, That man is a 1st ballot HOFer..,” Dudley tweeted. “We all want to see him back in the league. Royce seems uniformed when he speaks and this situation in calling my name out. This league is not about who’s better then who it’s what’s players make for the best Team.”
Carmelo Anthony on Jared Dudley: There is No Beef
Anthony finally found a home this month, signing with the Portland Trail Blazers. He’s started the last two games, averaging a shade over 26 minutes and 14 points.
Now back in the NBA and somewhat at peace, Anthony spoke on all those Dudley debates to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
“Me and Jared Dudley had some issues in the past, man, but I started feeling bad for him a little bit,” Anthony said. “I mean, not feeling bad, but it’s just like, ‘Leave that man alone.’ It’s not his fault. Teams that wanted him, they wanted a specific role, and that’s why they picked him up. I had to tell some guys to lay off. He wasn’t keeping a roster spot from me. That wasn’t the case. The [treatment] he received wasn’t right.
“Man, it was just some game s— in [competition],” Anthony added of his alleged “beef” with Dudley. “S— that happened on the court. Nothing serious. We don’t have any problems.”
LeBron James Gave Blessing to Sign Carmelo Anthony to Lakers
LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.
According to Haynes, the Lakers got the go-ahead from James to add Anthony, his close friend, to the roster. However, the front office decided to go another direction.
As the early signs have shown in Portland, signing a guy like Carmelo — who thrives with ball in his hands — is not like signing Dudley — a guy who will happily sit on the bench with a smile and contribute where he can.
Anthony acknowledged that him being without a team had to do more about the attention “outside of basketball” than his skill set.
“Honestly, I think it was more of, not intimidation, but it was more so teams not wanting to put themselves in that situation of having to deal with what role I was going to accept and questioning if I was going to accept my role and the media [attention] that’s behind it all,” Anthony told Yahoo Sports. “Just everything that comes along with bringing me in. Nobody knew where I was at, as far as what I was thinking. I think it was more so of everything else outside of basketball. I don’t think anybody thought, ‘Oh, he can’t play anymore. He can’t do this.’ It was everything that had to do with outside of basketball.”
The Lakers and Dudley will see Melo and the Blazers for this first time this season on Dec. 6 in Portland.
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Carmelo Anthony Speaks on ‘Beef’ With Lakers’ Jared Dudley