LeBron James calls on Carmelo to come to LA and it’s most likely not for the Women, Weed, and Weather… we think. Though, that’s enough for me to book a one-way flight to the City of Angels. Hollywood life is starkly different than living anywhere else in the world, but maybe it’s just the change he needs to right his game back on track. Does it make sense for the Lakers though?
James is not just the captain, he’s the King. And the king of The Lakers and Carmelo Anthony just happen to be close, longtime friends. James even said back in 2010 in an interview with Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, “I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together. At least one, maybe one or two seasons—me, Melo, D-Wade, CP—we can get a year in. I would actually take a pay cut to do that.” Well, he’s not getting Paul and Wade’s retiring after this season, so at the very least he figures he can get Melo. That sounds good for LeBron and Melo, but how about the Lakers? Anthony, who is once an all-star caliber player would be an incredible player to have, but does he still add value 16-years in? The latter remains to be seen.
How about those Lakers though? Do they really need him?
The Lakers are 15-9 and 5th place in Western Conference, not too bad. Six games above .500 and they are dealing with being down a couple of key players, Brandon Ingram and Rajon Rondo, who are both sidelined with an injury. Melo can be a big help filling in until they are at least both healthy. The Lakers may consider Melo’s a 16-year tenor and the Lakers have a lot of young talent that is still learning the NBA, and LeBron James mentioned that they could really use the additional veteran leadership. Also, before Anthony signed with Houston, it was the Lakers and the Heat who were the other teams interested in acquiring him.
As we know, The Rockets ended up signing him in an experimental bench role, but that experiment was a bust. Melo averaged 13.4 points on 40.5 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game. While those are respectable numbers, the Rockets season began at just a 4-6 start after winning an NBA-best 65 games a season ago.
What do you think? Does Melo and The Lakers make sense? If I’m Melo, for sure. If I’m the Lakers, I’m iffy. I don’t really stand to lose much if I’m LA though, down two starters and bringing in a talented player for cheap that makes my star player happy (Kobe shrug).
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