Could the only good destination left for Carmelo Anthony after his Chicago Bulls buyout be with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers?
The potential of a former NBA superstar like Carmelo Anthony joining the Los Angeles Lakers after his very brief stint with the Chicago Bulls seems to be more and more likely. Since the Lakers lost out on the buyout market battle for potent forward Markieff Morris to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Carmelo Anthony is one of the few options left.
Forbes reported that the Lakers are “one big disappointment away” from signing Carmelo Anthony since the team needs to stay in the thick of playoff contention in the Western Conference. The obvious draw is there for Anthony to play with his long time friend and superstar Lakers forward LeBron James to try and make a playoff push.
The issue for the Lakers in signing Carmelo Anthony would be something that’s looming for him for the past few seasons. Melo is one of the most inefficient former stars that the NBA has left on the free agent market. It would likely take a weird spark between James and Anthony to get his efficiency and production back to a respectable level.
Yahoo Sports reported last week that the forwards that headlined the buyout market were mainly Carmelo Anthony and the former New York Knicks big man Enes Kanter. The Lakers were hoping to be able to get in on the sweepstakes for either Kanter or Morris, but wound up losing out on both.
A few buyout players have passed on the Lakers. Could this lead to the addition of Carmelo Anthony? pic.twitter.com/m6opCYhiNT
— ESPN Los Angeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) February 15, 2019
Kanter wound up signing with star point guard Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, once again leaving Melo as one of the few options left for the Lakers. The rumors should continue to emerge for the possibility of a linking between Melo and LeBron in Los Angeles as time moves along.
However, what brought Melo to the Bulls in the first place was the trade deal involving third-year wing Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. While Luwawu is still with the Bulls, the plan the entire time for Melo in the Windy City seemed to be a buyout so that he could hit the open market.
This was some expected news for Melo before the deadline came around. Since Melo left the Knicks to join the Thunder for the 2017-18 campaign, his efficiency has gone down the drain. He still had a pretty high usage rate in OKC, but his player efficiency rating dropped below 13 to finish among the worst on the team in that stat category.
The numbers for Melo got even worse when he signed with the Houston Rockets to link up with MVP contending guard James Harden. Melo had possibly his least efficient season since the start of his NBA career in his less than 40 games with the Rockets.
If Melo did join the Lakers roster before the regular season picks back up out of the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend, he would fit a common theme alongside LeBron. The common storyline the Lakers had within the past year of acquiring “cast-offs” like JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson brought mixed results.
Not a whole lot of potential landing spots emerged for Carmelo Anthony of late since being bought out by the Bulls. The Lakers are a good destination for him since the buyout market seemingly dried up pretty quickly among the forwards. This rumor does make some sense for both parties.