Well before the Los Angeles Lakers had an open roster spot, there were rumblings linking them to Carmelo Anthony. The veteran forward had fallen out of favor with the Houston Rockets, and as a close friend of LeBron James, many suspected he would wind up with the Lakers.
Last November, James deferred a question to the front office when asked about the prospect of potentially playing with Anthony this season. One month later, James said he had a longstanding desire to have Anthony as a teammate of his.
While there was plenty of speculation linking Anthony to the Lakers, the team didn’t act as the Rockets sought a resolution and eventually found one by trading him to the Chicago Bulls. They promptly waived Anthony.
When the Lakers traded Michael Beasley and Ivica Zubac to the L.A. Clippers for Mike Muscala, it reignited talks of using the open roster spot to sign Anthony.
Although he was one of the reported options the team was considering, the Lakers and Anthony are putting a hold on potentially coming to terms, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski
The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Carmelo Anthony are pausing talks on a possible contract agreement unless the franchise makes a turn back toward pursuit of Western Conference playoffs contention, league sources told ESPN.
Having gone just 2-4 since the All-Star break, the Lakers enter Monday’s matchup with the Clippers 4.5 games back of the San Antonio Spurs for eighth place in the Western Conference standings.
Considering some of the concerns that would have come with signing Anthony earlier in the season, it certainly is reasonable to hold off on doing so at this juncture. He’s unlikely to be capable of turning the team around, and with a shaky reputation of late, the Lakers are better off not adding Anthony to the equation.
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