Carmelo Anthony rumors: Scared off by Los Angeles Lakers’ injuries?
Although he has visited with several teams, including the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers, most expect forward Carmelo Anthony to re-sign with the Knicks.
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The Bulls were once thought to be the favorite. He had a fantastic visit with them and even got to watch oft-injured point guard Derrick Rose work out, but they seem to fall have fallen behind the Knicks and Lakers. The Rockets are certainly and interesting team with James Harden and Dwight Howard, but that doesn’t seem as appealing as some may have believed. The visit to Dallas has been classified as a “charade.”
That likely leaves the Lakers and the Knicks.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders gibes the Knicks the advantage and believes Anthony may be scared off by the Lakers’ injury history, especially the recent ailments of guard Kobe Bryant and free agent big man Pau Gasol.
"I think the Lakers have real appeal, but I wonder if attaching yourself to Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol in a win-now scenario in the west is really better than other options. Neither of those guys have been overly durable over the last three years.Kobe has played 58 games, 78 games and 6 games in his last three seasons. Gasol has 65 games, 49 games and 60 games in his last three and none of them are getting younger. What does that look like in Year 2 or 3?"
Anthony put up 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and shot 45.2% from the field, 40.2% from beyond the arc and 84.8% from the free throw line last season.