Prior to the 2019-20 NBA season, Jared Dudley found his name in the press for an unpredictable reason.
Former and current NBA players were using Dudley as a scapegoat for why Carmelo Anthony wasn’t on an NBA roster with people believing the latter deserved to be on the Lakers over the former.
Of course, the Lakers and most other fans understand why Dudley fits this roster better than Anthony, regardless of who’s the better basketball player. However, some simply attacked Dudley for being put on a roster over Anthony which he not only has no control over but also shouldn’t be at fault for.
Now that Anthony’s signed with the Portland Trail Blazers, he recently came to Dudley’s defense, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports:
“Me and Jared Dudley had some issues in the past, man, but I started feeling bad for him a little bit,” Anthony told Yahoo Sports. “I mean, not feeling bad, but it’s just like, ‘Leave that man alone.’ It’s not his fault. Teams that wanted him, they wanted a specific role, and that’s why they picked him up. I had to tell some guys to lay off. He wasn’t keeping a roster spot from me. That wasn’t the case. The [treatment] he received wasn’t right.”
When asked to elaborate on some of the issues that he and Dudley had, Anthony said it was strictly in game and they have no issues off the court:
“Man, it was just some game s— in [competition],” he told Yahoo Sports. “S— that happened on the court. Nothing serious. We don’t have any problems.”
This was an extremely mature move by Anthony to come to Dudley’s defense like this, especially if the two had problems in the past. Dudley spent most of the 2019 NBA offseason hearing his name dragged through the mud on Anthony’s behalf, and it’s good to know that the latter wasn’t a fan of it either.
Luckily, both players are now on rosters that need their skill sets and abilities, which means there’s no more talk over who deserved a Lakers roster spot more.
Anthony will be able to score at will in order to try and help save the Blazers while Dudley can continue to be a veteran presence and knock-down three-point shooter for the Lakers.