Carmelo Anthony says he needed to hear LeBron James say, ‘I need you’ before joining Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers newcomer Carmelo Anthony recently revealed that he needed to hear LeBron James say “I need you” and “I want you” before joining the team.

“I know our friendship. I know our brotherhood that we have,” Anthony said. “I know the connection that we have. And over the years, we’ve kind of been dipping and dabbing at, ‘Oh let’s play together, let’s do this or let’s do that.’ But it wasn’t that.

“And at this point in time, where we both are in our careers, I think we both needed to hear that. I needed to hear, ‘I need you. I want you. Let’s go.’ I really needed to hear that affirmation. Whereas before it was just, ‘Yo, come on, I think this would be cool. I think this would be dope. Let’s make it happen.’ It was a different feeling. It was a different vibe at this point.”

Anthony ended up signing a one-year deal with the Lakers over the summer. He was one of the many veteran players L.A. added during the offseason.

In the 2020-21 campaign, Anthony proved that he’s still capable of being a productive offensive player. He averaged 13.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game on 42.1 percent shooting from the field and 40.9 percent shooting from deep.

He’ll look to keep his production levels high in the upcoming season with L.A.

The Lakers have had a rocky preseason so far, but it doesn’t seem like there’s a major sense of panic from anyone on the team. L.A. will open its regular season next week, and by that point, the team will hope to have some of its preseason hiccups worked out.