Carmelo Anthony Recalls How Kobe Bryant Tried to Recruit Him to Lakers

Carmelo Anthony is arguably one of the best scorers NBA has ever seen. Be it his killer mid-range or his trademark three-pointer, Melo has done it all. But unlike his peers, the 36-year-old hasn’t been a part of a championship-winning team.

But the 10-time All-star could have formed one of the most lethal basketball duos with the legendary Kobe Bryant. In a recent appearance at the Woj podcast, Melo opened up about how Kobe approached him to sign for the Lakers and why he didn’t sign with the team.

“I was the only one in the West. Right. So it was I was always connected some way somehow to Lakers. And it was common, you know, it was conversations of ‘Yo, come on, like, you won’t come to the Lakers or what’.”

He added, “It was like, ‘let’s make this happen.’ And it was just like, ‘ah, I don’t think I could do it’. Because we fight, we battle each other every single day like we fighting each other every night. We are having battles. I don’t know if I could do that, I don’t know if LA is actually on the radar at that point. I don’t know if nobody was on the radar at that time.”

Although he didn’t sign with the Lakers, it would have been fascinating to see two generational scorers like Kobe and Melo in one team. The league would have had two deadly super teams then, the LeBron James and Dwyane Wade led Miami Heat and the Kobe and Melo led Lakers.

Can Carmelo Anthony win an NBA championship?

While Melo has had multiple individual accolades, the 36-year-old hasn’t won the coveted Larry O’ Brian trophy. The 10-time All-Star is currently in a talented Portland Trail Blazers team led by a blazing Damian Lillard.

After a year of hiatus, the 36-year-old made a promising comeback with the Blazers and has become an integral part of their offense coming off the bench.

But given how stacked the Western Conference has become, Melo and the Blazers face a huge task up ahead with juggernauts like Lakers, Clippers, and the Jazz all getting stronger.

The 36-year-old might not be in his prime but has shown flashes that he can be explosive coming off of the bench. Can Carmelo Anthony maintain his stellar form and increase his output coming off the bench?

The Blazers might not have the star power on paper, but given the quality in players like Melo, Lillard, and CJ McCollum, the team can pull off a surprise or two.