Three Teams Who Could Consider Signing Carmelo Anthony Right Now
A ten-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA forward, the 2012-13 NBA Scoring Champion and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team, Carmelo Anthony still finds himself as an unrestricted free agent in the month of August.
Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Anthony has played in at least one game for four different franchises and has struggled to find a home.
He may not be the same All-Star-level talent he once was when he was with the Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks earlier in his career, but Carmelo Anthony has proven in recent years that he can still be a scoring threat off-the-bench.
Melo played well in the Portland Trail Blazers’ second unit and last season, playing with the Los Angeles Lakers, Carmelo continued to show that he is more than capable of being a “Sixth Man-like” talent.
Playing in 69 games for the Los Angeles Lakers last season, he averaged 13.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and shot 44.1% from the floor, 37.5% from three-point range.
Not many teams are still looking to add players this late in the offseason, but there are quite a few teams who still have an open roster spot. Could one of them possibly look to sign Carmelo Anthony?
Here are three teams who could seriously consider signing Anthony right now before the start of training camps in September.
New York Knicks
Going back and playing for the New York Knicks is definitely a long-shot to believe in, but the Knicks have only 13 players on guaranteed contracts for the 2022-23 season right now.
Having Immanuel Quickley, Derrick Rose, Quentin Grimes and Jalen Brunson in the backcourt, this team does not need any more guards and it is hard to believe that they will look to bring in another big man with Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims all getting new contracts in the offseason.
Out on the wing is where the Knicks need some more scoring help, which is why signing Carmelo Anthony to a minimum contract sounds like a reasonable idea for New York.
He would be confident coming off-the-bench behind the likes of Evan Fournier and RJ Barrett, plus who wouldn’t want to see Melo balling out in Madison Square Garden again?
Defensively, he would be a liability for this team and he does not necessarily fit into Tom Thibodeau’s style of play, but the fans would likely embrace Anthony returning to New York and this franchise desperately needs something to cheer about.
I’ll put it this way – bringing Carmelo Anthony back cannot hurt the Knicks given that they missed the playoffs last year, so they really do not have much to lose if they go down this road near the end of the offseason.
Brooklyn Nets
Returning to New York could definitely be in the cards for Carmelo Anthony near the end of his career, but it may not be to the Knicks. The Brooklyn Nets only have 12 players on guaranteed contracts for the 2022-23 season and with the recent news of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving staying with the Nets, this franchise is going to be looking to fill out the rest of their roster rather quickly.
Maybe LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin are two forwards the team will look to bring back and Dwight Howard is also a name that has been in connection with the Nets, but it is hard to overlook the fact that Carmelo Anthony is still available right now.
Anthony is good friends with both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, plus the Nets truly believe that they can be a title contender when fully healthy.
Adding an experienced, proven bench scorer like Melo gives this team more depth alongside Durant and Irving, plus the veteran forward has helped his teams over the past couple of years in terms of rebounding off-the-bench.
Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Carmelo has averaged 4.4 rebounds per game. This is not fantastic, but he is another strong presence that can play either forward positions, giving the Nets exactly what they are missing right now in their second-unit.
Do not be shocked if the Nets make a move for Carmelo Anthony, especially since they need another forward and since they settled everything with their superstar talents.
Los Angeles Lakers
At the end of the day, the most likely of the three paths for Carmelo Anthony is to remain with the Los Angeles Lakers and sign another one-year, minimum deal simply because they still have an open roster spot and because of his connection with LeBron James.
It is no secret around the league that LeBron usually gets what he wants from a front-office perspective and that was one of the main reasons the Lakers signed Melo ahead of last season in the first place.
Looking at his performance during the course of the 2021-22 season as well, the Lakers truly have no reason that they would not want to bring Carmelo back other than the fact that he is 38-years-old and has another year or two left in him.
There are younger players in this league though that still do not put up the numbers Anthony does coming off-the-bench, which is why the Lakers should look to retain the former All-Star.
He seemed happy in Los Angeles last season even though the team was not successful and having a lot more younger talents than they previously did, Carmelo Anthony could be another veteran mentor for the Lakers to utilize.
Maybe the Lakers will not look to fill this 15th roster spot on their roster ahead of the start of the 2022-23 season, but if they do, it would be shocking if they gave it to anyone else other than Carmelo Anthony.
