Carmelo Anthony is going to get the chance to compete for an NBA championship before he calls time on his legendary career in the NBA. The former All-Star signed a minimum contract with the Los Angeles Lakers to join forces with his close friend LeBron James going into the new season.
Melo has struggled over the last few seasons with regard to his role in the league. Up until the mid-2010s, Anthony was an All-Star caliber player. But failed stints in OKC and Houston plummeted his stock in the league, and there were questions about whether Carmelo would get a spot on an NBA team going forward.
But the Portland Trail Blazers gave Melo a chance, signing him to a minimum contract. The Blazers regularly brought Anthony off the bench, and he became a key contributor to the squad on the offensive end and became a solid locker room presence for the team.
After two years with the Blazers, a stint that significantly helped improve Anthony’s reputation in the league, he was recruited by the Lakers to come play for them and compete for an NBA championship.
In a recent interview with Complex, Anthony spoke about the concept of loyalty in sports. Melo believes that there is no such thing as loyalty in professional sports, and players and teams are just working with each other in a beneficial relationship.
There is no sense of attachment in sports, and players are merely employees for teams these days.
“I don’t feel like there’s loyalty in sports. When you talk about loyalty then and what my morals is based off of, I still carry those basics of loyalty today in my life. Sports is just sports. It’s a business. There’s no loyalty in sports. You’re an athlete, that’s your profession, you get paid to do that. No one has to be loyal to you. Me just kinda knowing that and having that mentality growing up and learning that, I know what loyalty feels like and I know what it feels like when somebody’s disloyal to you or not loyal as you are. I still carry those basics of loyalty with me today.”
Anthony has bounced around the league to several teams and is on a contender for the first time in a very long time. For Anthony, he is one of the players who has benefitted from the player empowerment era and has gotten to make decisions about his future without having to worry too much about his bottom line.
The Lakers will be very happy with Melo on their squad. In fact, Stephen A. Smith believes that the Lakers should ‘thank god’ that they were able to recruit the former All-Star to their team. And if he can replicate a fraction of his prime offensive prowess, the Lakers will significantly benefit from his presence.
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