Carmelo Anthony says LeBron James compared the Lakers to the 2020 Buccaneers before the season began

The 2020 NFL season was Tom Brady’s first in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers uniform.

The Bucs brought in a lot of new faces and big names in addition to Brady, creating an interesting mix of star talent.

The team got off to a somewhat slow start and was just 7-5 after 12 games. Tampa Bay’s struggles didn’t last, as the squad got hot and wound up capturing the Super Bowl title.

The Los Angeles Lakers, who are off to a slow start themselves this NBA season after adding some big names in the offseason, would love to have their 2021-22 campaign end the same way the Buccaneers’ 2020 NFL season did: with a championship.

LeBron James apparently saw some parallels between the 2021-22 Lakers and 2020 Buccaneers before the current NBA season even started.

“Before the Lakers even had held an official practice this season, let alone played in a game, LeBron James told his teammates they reminded him of another veteran group led by an aging legend: Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” wrote Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Carmelo Anthony had a few thoughts about the comparison to Tampa Bay.

“Just from the standpoint of starting off slow and having new guys on the team,” Anthony said. “New system. Guys trying to figure it out, guys trying to figure out how to play with LeBron and [Anthony Davis] and now incorporating Russ (Russell Westbrook) and just now everybody figuring out what their role is. And what made it beautiful for the Bucs is that once it came together, it came together and you saw what happened with that.”

Lakers fans would obviously love to see L.A. turn things around the same way the Bucs did. Ultimately, only time will tell if that’s in the cards.

Currently, the Lakers are 21-20 on the season after dropping their last contest. The team had won four straight games before having its win streak stopped by the Memphis Grizzlies.

L.A. will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday against the struggling Sacramento Kings.