– Clearly on the decline
While there are multiple reasons why the Lakers are wisely not interested in pursuing Anthony, the most obvious reason is that he is clearly on the decline. At 34-years-old, Anthony has had a great career. As one of the best scorers in the NBA for about a decade, Anthony will surely find himself in the Hall-Of-Fame one day. However, after seeing what he did with the Thunder and the small sample size with the Rockets, Anthony is clearly a player on the decline.
Even though Anthony was a great scorer, he shot just barely over 40 percent from the field in a full season with the Thunder, and also in 10 games with the Rockets. While it wasn’t his fault entirely, both teams did also underperform during his time there.
While Anthony’s scoring use to make up for his lack of skill on the defensive end, that is not the case anymore. Adding Anthony to the Lakers would just take away minutes from the young core and also add a player that has the reputation of being a bit of a black hole on the offensive end. Even though he can still be a productive player, adding Anthony to the Lakers wouldn’t be a smart move.