Carmelo Anthony reveals why he chose to join the Lakers

Carmelo Anthony signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. Although the move caught some people off guard given how fondly Anthony had spoken of the Portland Trail Blazers over the past few years, recent comments from Anthony have shed light on why that exit was necessary.

As it turns out, the divorce wasn’t quite as mutual and gracious as everyone had initially been led to believe.

This week, Anthony sat down with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. While the interview touched a bevy of topics, a particular one stood out: why’d Anthony ultimately come to L.A.?

“What was the deciding factor in choosing the Lakers?” Haynes asked. “Was it LeBron? Was it something else?”

“Winning,” Anthony replied. “Having a great chance to win. It took me some days to really sit down and break it down and really dig deep into making that decision. To most people, it probably would have been an easy decision. But for me, I really had to align a lot of things … for this to work out, for me to feel comfortable going out there and being away from fam for another year…People don’t understand that part of it. That’s the hard part. The basketball is easy.”

Anthony also acknowledged that while he would’ve been at peace never winning a title as a member of other organizations, as a Laker, that no longer holds true.

“If I didn’t go to the Lakers, it wasn’t something that was heavy on me,” Anthony said of never winning a chip. “But now that I’m with the Lakers, it’s a must-have. There’s no questions about it. We gotta get it. By any means.”