After completing a blockbuster trade for Russell Westbrook, the Los Angeles Lakers filled the rest of their roster with veterans looking to win a championship, with Carmelo Anthony being one of them.
Anthony has been linked to the Lakers in just about every offseason dating back to 2014 when he took a free agency meeting with them before ultimately signing with the New York Knicks.
It wasn’t until now that Anthony finally joining the Lakers alongside his best friend LeBron James though, and during his introductory press conference, he explained how it all came together as well as why this was the right time.
“Well I mean every year, as you know, there’s so much movement in the NBA. Nobody knows what’s gonna happen, one player is always connected with one organization somewhere whether they’re there or not. And it seems like just throughout my whole career, I’ve always been connected with the Lakers someway, somehow. Whether it was through my brother Kobe, regardless of what it is, I’ve always been connected to them someway, somehow,” Anthony said.
“So it wasn’t really no pitch this time, I think it was just more of an understanding like Ok, the time is now. The time is now for both parties to emerge and both parties to come together and let’s put this thing together. There’s a lot of understanding on my behalf, there’s a lot of understanding on the Lakers’ behalf and the organization, transparency is key for me, honesty, communication is major for me.”
Anthony also added that there wasn’t a lot of dialogue between him and James beforehand other than that now is the time.
“So once they reached out, I was with Bron a couple times and I’m sure everybody thought we were talking about it but we never had no conversations about it. Bron came to me one time and said the time is now, we got to make this happen. I took that information and took that dialogue and took my time with it and weighed all the options that I was weighing at that time and I just felt like for right now, this was the best time for us. I think most people would say we should’ve got together years ago or earlier in our careers but we was in two different lanes, we was in two different paths. Everything comes full circle, I’ll say.”
A big reason that Anthony found himself out of the league a couple of years ago was because of his unwillingness to accept a reduced role. During his introductory press conference though, the 18-year veteran made it clear that he is willing to do whatever it takes to help the Lakers win a championship, which is a good sign for L.A.
Anthony brings much-needed shooting to table
Anthony is coming off a career shooting season with the Portland Trail Blazers in which he shot 40.9% from three, so there certainly will be a role for him on the Lakers if he can continue that.
The Lakers were one of the worst shooting teams in the league last season and clearly made it a point of emphasis this summer to bring in players to help improve that, with Anthony being one of them.
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