Lakers News: Status Of Potential Carmelo Anthony Reunion

Could one of L.A.'s better role players from last season be back?

One of the few veteran role players your Los Angeles Lakers signed in the ill-fated summer of 2021 may not be headed back to L.A.

The Lakers are currently fielding a roster that features 11 players on guaranteed deals, plus two (Austin Reaves and Wenyen Gabriel) on non-guaranteed contracts who seem likely to stick around. That leaves two openings on the club's standard 15-man roster for Los Angeles to add players. 

If L.A. opts to move off the gigantic contract of Russell Westbrook, which seems likely, it's quite possible the team would at least enact at least a two-for-one deal that nets the Lakers back two players on cheaper deals. As we've discussed before, L.A. could conceivably even bring back more than two players in a Westbrook exchange. Thus, it makes sense that the Lakers have yet to bring back several of the still-available veterans who played for L.A. last year. 

Carmelo Anthony makes the most sense as a fit, given that he can help spread the floor and could also spell both LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the forward minutes rotation.

A 10-time All-Star and a 2022 NBA 75th Anniversary Team honoree, Anthony went down a bumpy road while finding his footing as a journeyman role player in the league. He came into his own in that capacity during two seasons with Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, and finally suited up alongside fellow 2003 draftee and future Hall of Famer LeBron James, signing a veteran's minimum deal and taking on a bench role with the Lakers in 2021-22.

In speaking with Michael Scotto on a new edition of The HoopsHype Podcast, The Athletic's Jovan Buha noted that, while a return to Crypto.com Arena could make sense for both Anthony and the Lakers, he cautions that the addition of younger power forward Juan Toscano-Anderson could have effectively served to signify Anthony's replacement on the roster.

The 38-year-old Anthony, never a good defender, has fallen off in his NBA dotage, and L.A. may be prioritizing a contributor on that end of the floor in their quest for more bodies.