NBA Rumors: With Lakers out, where will Carmelo Anthony sign?
NBA Rumors: With the Los Angeles Lakers pulling out of the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes, where could his next landing spot be?
For much of the season, after he was officially let go by the Houston Rockets – and then the Chicago Bulls – the majority opinion was that Carmelo Anthony would find his way to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, now that the Lakers have fallen 4.5 games back of the 8th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, it appears that perhaps it will never come to fruition.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers and Melo have paused talks on a potential signing as the team continues to fight for their playoff lives.
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"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."
And, that makes a ton of sense. After all, why would the Lakes want to sign Melo if they have little-to-no shot at making a real post-season run. The same could be said for Melo, if he is genuine about helping a team in their pursuit for the playoffs – or eventual run in the post-season – it wouldn’t make much sense for him to ink with the Lakers.
At least not right now. If Los Angeles can pick up a win against the Los Angeles Clippers, who they trail in the Wester standings, tonight perhaps that begins to change.
If the Lakers can’t turn it around, though, it’s going to be interesting to see what Melo’s next move will be? Would the Miami Heat, who are very much in the thick of the playoff race and were in the running to land the former all-star during the summer, still be interested?
Or would Melo try to pivot to a team like the Boston Celtics, who could use some kind of shakeup to their current roster, or the Portland Trail Blazers, who could use an extra weapon off the bench as they attempt to take the next step in the playoffs.
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There’s still time for Melo to make a decision, but you’d think that wherever he decides to sign he’s going to want time to gel with his new team. That means he needs to make a decision at least two weeks before the playoffs start. In other words, soon.