Carmelo Anthony reveals what he needed from LeBron James to agree to join the Lakers

Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James have been pretty close friends since before entering the NBA. They were the 1st and 3rd pick of the 2003 Draft and their friendship has only gotten stronger since.

Throughout the years, plenty of people thought it was just a matter of time before James and Melo teamed up. They worked out together and even traveled together during their vacations, so it wasn’t a far-fetched idea.

Notably, fans had to way until their 19th season in the league to finally watching him playing together outside of Team USA, with Anthony taking his talents to STAPLES Center to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lakers News: Carmelo Anthony Says He Needed LeBron To Say “I Need You”

But, apparently, it wasn’t an easy call for Melo. According to a recent interview, he needed to know that LeBron actually needed him and wanted him to be a part of the team before agreeing to sign:

“I know our friendship. I know our brotherhood that we have,” Anthony told Spectrum Sportsnet. “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 his 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,” he added.

Anthony Admits He Nearly Turns Down The Lakers

That’s not the first time that Anthony opens up on this situation. He recently said that he was pretty close to going back home to sign with the Knicks before eventually taking his chances in Los Angeles:

“It was (hard) because I had just moved and bought a house in New York,” Anthony said.“It was unexpected. My son starts school (today) in New York. So it was like, I’m here, I’m home. I never expected the Lakers to call.”

“To most people, it probably would have been an easy decision to make. But to me, it wasn’t. I really have to align a lot of things and put things in order for things to work out, for me to feel comfortable to be away from my family for another year and the kids not being there. People don’t understand that part. That’s the hardest part. The basketball (part) is easy,” he concluded.

Carmelo Anthony is one of the greatest scorers of all time but the lack of playoff success will always hamper his legacy. Notably, winning a ring at this point in his career will mean even more for him.