The Los Angeles Lakers are now one of the front-runners in landing all-star forward Carmelo Anthony, according to multiple league sources.
The Lakers met with Anthony last Friday and offered him a four-year; $97 million contract to sign with them. In addition, future-hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant was reported to be in constant communication with the Knicks forward, in convincing him to play with him in LA. The strong relationship between these two stars and the enormous respect for Bryant may prove to be key factors in making his decision.
Lakers have moved into serious contention on Carmelo Anthony, multiple sources tell Yahoo. "In the game now," one source close to Melo says.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 5, 2014
DEVELOPING: Lakers emerge as biggest threat to Knicks to sign Carmelo. (via @ramonashelburne & @Chris_Broussard) » http://t.co/TheDGOZYyp
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 6, 2014
Lakers’ center Pau Gasol, will likely re-sign with the team, if ever they land the superstar forward this off-season. However, this union of Bryant and Anthony will limit the team’s financial flexibility. It’ll be hard to acquire other vital pieces to upgrade their current roster.
For Anthony, re-signing with the Knicks is still an option though—as he was recently offered a five-year, $127 million deal, which is higher than the Lakers’ offer, and also with Phil Jackson at the helm—the future of New York is in good hands already, and Melo just really needs to more patient with the process.
But as we all know, LA will always be an option for any player in the league, even for Anthony, because an opportunity to be the next face of arguably the NBA’s most decorated franchise doesn’t come by often.
This is certainly a very tough decision.
