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The Los Angeles Lakers saw a lot of Carmelo Anthony firsthand.
The Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 1 of their first-round matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers and followed suit with four straight wins to pull off a gentleman’s sweep. Two of those four wins were classified in the blowout category.
The red-hot Blazers were one of the NBA’s best bubble stories, but they just didn’t have the overall talent to match the Lakers. Zach Collins was out even before the series started and Damian Lillard hit and missed Game 5.
However, the Lakers still played fantastic perimeter defense, highlighted by Alex Caruso, and showed why they should be the favorites to win the NBA title.
A fun subplot of this series was the battle between Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, two players who will always be intertwined when they came to the league together and have been good friends ever since.
And while LeBron was obviously the best player in this series, Carmelo wasn’t bad either. Melo averaged 15.2 points, five rebounds and two assists in 35.2 minutes per game. More importantly, he made 42.1 percent of his 3-point shots.
Carmelo is a free agent this upcoming offseason and after practically not playing a full season he has shown that he still has value in the league. Will the Los Angeles Lakers, the last team to see it firsthand, see this value and hunt down Melo as a free agent target in the offseason?
Let’s analyze it.
Carmelo Anthony’s case against the Los Angeles Lakers
It’s crazy how much a year can change things. We’ve seen it in the real world in 2020, but we’ve also seen it with Carmelo Anthony. A year ago, Anthony was not a valuable asset and many wondered how long his NBA career would last.
He has since shown that he still has value in the league and is willing to take on a lesser role, something that was questionable before signing with Portland. Melo still played 32.8 minutes per game at Portland, but was easily third, sometimes fourth, on the court.
Staying in Portland fits Carmelo well, but if you want to add the one thing he hasn’t accomplished in his career, an NBA Championship, then a team like the Los Angeles Lakers makes sense.
Now, from a roster and rotation standpoint, Carmelo would be tough to fit in. The team already has a bit of a standoff as a forward with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma. However, that could be easily fixed.
Kyle Kuzma has been in the trade rumors for the past calendar year. While he wasn’t traded on the deadline, I don’t think it’s too shocking to see him traded this offseason, especially if the Lakers don’t win the title this year. They will be looking for improvements.
That opens the door for Carmelo. Now, we must add, he has to agree to come off the bench and be the sixth man. He’ll still be around 25 minutes a game and play a moderately important role, but he probably won’t be a starter. He would basically replace Kuzma in the rotation.
And as a replacement for Kuzma, assuming the team gets a good return from Kuzma, I don’t hate him. Carmelo is a more consistent shooter than Kuzma and not much of a defensive difference from Melo to Kuzma. When Melo struggles on the defensive end, he’s just as good, if not better, as a defender than Kuzma, who isn’t even a great defender.
So let’s say the Lakers invest Kuzma and Danny Green in a package similar to the one we proposed for Victor Oladipo. Bring in Oladipo, bring in Melo and the Lakers would have a starting five from Avery Bradley, Victor Oladipo, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and JaVale McGee with Melo as the sixth man.
The team could also bring DeMarcus Cousins back with a minimal contract and have the mid-level exception to play. The Lakers would improve even more and Melo would be the perfect player to replace Kuzma on the roster.
Without a Kuzma exchange, it won’t happen. There are too many people in the position and Melo is not going to take on the role of Jared Dudley as a veteran benchwarmer.
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