Rumor: Los Angeles Lakers To Pursue Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James Next Season

Mar. 3, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) and Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) wait for a rebound during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Miami won 99-93. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports /

The season isn’t even close to starting and rumors of the Los Angeles Lakers pursuing big name talent in next seasons free agency period have started.

It is pretty obvious that the career of Kobe Bryant could come to an end within the next couple years. He won’t be around for forever, so it makes sense the front office of the Lakers are eyeballing the list of free agents next season in hopes of bringing in a big house hold name. From what is being tossed around, the 2 big names on top of that free agency list happen to be Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.

It may be a long shot for either to sign with the Lakers, but when you have a franchise like the Los Angeles Lakers, how could you refuse to put on that uniform? Of course the team is the heart and soul of that city, although the Clippers are slowly on the rise, but the purple and gold will always be the top dog until their little brother (Clippers) decide to rack up handfuls of championships.

If the Los Angeles Lakers were to possibly sign one of these players, which should they go after? Both are excellent players, but are definitely on different levels when it comes to style of play. You have LeBron, a 2x NBA Champion/Finals MVP along with 4 MVP honors and practically 2 handfuls of other honors. Then you have Carmelo Anthony, a player who sort of lives in the shadow of LeBron James ever since they were drafted and brought into this league in the same year. One a high school phenom, the other a Syracuse legend who were looking to make an impact on this league, in which they both succeeded.

LeBron has the Championships and MVP’s, but both of them have a history of rubbing franchises the wrong way. King James decided that Cleveland wasn’t the place for him, so he took it upon himself to have a huge announcement which aired on ESPN. The infamous ‘I’ve decided to take my talents to South Beach’ will forever haunt the fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers. And then you have Carmelo Anthony, who had problems with the Nuggets and was then traded to the New York Knicks in hopes of bringing a championship to that franchise/city for the first time since 1973.

They both have their baggage, but are very talented and would definitely be the future of the Los Angeles Lakers since Kobe is close to calling it a career.

For right now this is just a rumor that will swirl around and more than likely get the attention of Stephen A. Smith or Chris Broussard who we all know, will eat this up. I doubt LeBron James will leave the Miami Heat, unless there happens to be a fall out between him and Dwayne Wade, which I doubt happens. So right now I think the next possible Los Angeles Lakers star could very well be Carmelo Anthony.

If the New York Knicks fall early in the playoffs this season, I believe Carmelo will be looking to pick up his ball and move on to a new court. So if anything does come out of this, Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony could be playing together for at least 2 seasons.

Don’t you just love rumors? We’ll see what happens next season, but as of right now, this upcoming season hasn’t even begun to open it’s eyes yet.

As a Los Angeles Lakers fan, who would you like to be the next big star in a Lakers uniform, knowing Kobe Bryant is nearly finished? Leave a comment in the comment section below to share your opinion on this possible move.