Lakers may have subtly revealed Carmelo Anthony’s fate with no. choice

If there’s one thing the Los Angeles Lakers have prioritized through the initial waves of free agency, getting younger has to top the list. Between Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington and bringing 34-year-old Darren Collison out of retirement, the Lakers’ 2021-22 roster was the oldest in the NBA.

None of those players, including Kent Bazemore, DJ Augustin and Avery Bradley, haven’t been offered contracts in free agency.

Thus far, the Lakers have signed Lonnie Walker IV, Troy Brown Jr., Juan Toscano Anderson, Damian Jones and most recently Thomas Bryant.

The combined ages of those player? A youthful 25. There’s no denying Rob Pelinka and Co. have plenty of work remaining, but this influx of youth figures to pay big dividends for LeBron James, Anthony Davis and (maybe) Russell Westbrook.

Some of that remaining work includes addressing Anthony’s future, though Los Angeles might’ve indirectly revealed their hand in that regard by handing out his iconic No. 7 jersey number to Troy Brown Jr.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1544735921634848769

It doesn’t seem like the Lakers are planning to bring back Carmelo Anthony this offseason.

When you think of Anthony, two jersey numbers come to mind: No. 15, which he donned with pride early in his career with the Nuggets, and No. 7, which he repped from 2011-19 between the Knicks, Thunder and Rockets.

For what it’s worth, Anthony sported the rare double zero in Portland before switching back to No. 7 with the Lakers last year.

Bottom line? Unless the 38-year-old had a sudden change of heart to switch jersey numbers before his 22nd season, Brown Jr. assuming his familiar No. 7 tells us all we need to know about his future, don’t you think?

As the below tweet shows, Anthony is hard at work preparing for the 2022-23 campaign after he posted 13.3 points per game on 37.5% shooting from threes last season. He’s still a serviceable rotation player capable of catching a heater on any given night in the twilight of his career, but it doesn’t appear the NBA’s ninth all-time leading scorer fits into the Lakers’ evident youth movement this offseason.

Anthony scored at least 20 points in 11 games for the Lakers last year, but it’s currently unclear what his market looks like. He’s been linked with a return to New York, which would admittedly be a fitting place to end his career, but the Knicks are a play-in team at best and Melo likely wants to pursue a championship.

Returning to the Lakers would certainly give him a clear path in that regard, but Brown Jr. taking the team’s No. 7 jersey all but rules out an LA reunion.

Judging by Brown Jr.’s smile in the above photo, he’d have a difficult time conceding the number to Anthony in the event he’s re-signed.

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