Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors involve Carmelo Anthony, who despite what some people think, received the okay from LeBron James about signing with the Lakers.
Some of the most frequent Los Angeles Lakers rumors in recent months involved forward, Carmelo Anthony. Anthony was out of the NBA basically for a year after the Houston Rockets released him after only 10 games with the team.
That short stint followed a disappointing season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City was hopeful Anthony would help push their duo of Paul George and Russell Westbrook to the next level, but the team fell painfully short of expectations.
With Anthony becoming a free agent twice within the last year, many people pointed to the Lakers as a potential landing spot. With LeBron James on the roster, it made some sense.
Everyone knows the influence that James has on the roster being put around him. He has shown he is a powerful individual in the past and many people thought he would wield that power to land his good friend a spot on the roster.
That pairing never came to fruition. Anthony didn’t sign with the Lakers as they fell out of playoff contention last season. This season, they had another opportunity to do it as they were looking to fill out their roster following the acquisition of Anthony Davis. Once again, it didn’t happen.
As a result, some people, such as Colin Cowherd, began to question how much James really wanted to play with Anthony.
Always hear how much all the NBA stars love Melo. Really think Lebron never had the juice to get him on one of his rosters. Puh-leeeeeese. #FakeLove
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) November 20, 2019
That is a bold statement for Cowherd to make. With so many players teaming up in recent years, it is peculiar that James was unable to get his good friend on the same roster.
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However, it sounds like Cowherd’s take is wrong. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, James was okay with the Lakers adding Melo to their roster. However, the organization’s front office decided to go in a different direction.
Melo, on the other hand, has found a new team to play with, in the Portland Trail Blazers. He began his Trail Blazers career this past week and was immediately inserted into the starting lineup.
That is something Anthony never would have been afforded the chance to do with the Lakers. The starting forward spots have James and Davis locked into them. Off the bench, Kyle Kuzma, once fully back in shape following a late start to the regular season because of an injury, will also receive major minutes.
Portland had a huge need on the wing in the frontcourt, making it a better landing spot for Carmelo. He will receive ample minutes to showcase he still has something to bring to teams in the future.
With championship aspirations, fitting in a player of Anthony’s magnitude would not have been easy to do. The team is off to a hot start this season, so it is hard to argue that they made the wrong move by not signing Carmelo Anthony.