Lakers News: Carmelo Anthony Talks the Selection Process Before Signing With LA

Anthony received interest from four other teams before signing with the Lakers.

A few years ago, Carmelo Anthony seemed like he was done playing basketball in the NBA. After his stint in Houston, no teams were calling. Anthony went unsigned for over a calendar year. He got to the point he was really starting to think about life after basketball.

Then Portland came calling. Anthony along with his peers knew he could still play, it was just about finding the right fit. Teams nowadays opt to use roster space for youth potential rather than have too many veterans, Anthony wasn’t getting interest because teams were wondering about his willingness to accept a smaller role.

Recently, the NCAA champion talked with NBA Insider Chris Haynes of Yahoo, about how he gave Portland the benefit of the doubt first, and other teams that were interested in his services.

“Well to be honest, I found myself sitting around and waiting on Portland. I didn’t want to talk to nobody yet. I’m just going to see what Portland does, see what happens, see what they say. I was talking to Dame [Lillard], talking to CJ [McCollum]. I was just waiting to see, are they gonna call, are they interested, I haven’t heard anything, do they want to bring me back, do they want to move on? There was just a lot of things happening over there that wasn’t clear. I made that almost like a home for me within two years, I just felt like I was part of that community.”

There was even interest in his former team, the New York Knicks.

“New York was always there. Coming back to New York was always a story. I’ve always told my son when he goes to high school, I’ll be right there with you. The New York thing made sense.”

Anthony also mentioned how there was interest from Philadelphia and New Orleans, but those didn’t get too far before he signed with the Lakers.

This time around, the 12-time All Star is just glad that there was interest from multiple teams. After receiving no interest, Anthony definitely has a different perspective on how quickly opportunities can evaporate in the NBA.