Carmelo Anthony Speaks: The One Scenario Where LeBron James Gets Trade

Former sharpshooting 10-time All-Star NBA combo forward Carmelo Anthony recently predicted how his one-time Los Angeles Lakers teammate, 20-time All-Star combo forward LeBron James, could get traded at some point over the course of his current two-year, $101.4 million contract with L.A.

The 6-foot-7 vet, who officially retired in 2023, weighed in on his podcast, “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & Kid Mero,” about what exactly it would take for James to allow the Lakers to deal him.

“I can’t see him wanting to get traded,” longtime NBA pundit Bomani Jones, a guest on the episode, opined.

Beyond inking the lucrative new deal that will make him the longest-tenured NBA player ever in 2025-26 (with a record-breaking 23rd season), James saw his influence grow during the 2024 offseason. L.A. selected his 20-year-old son, LeBron “Bronny” James Jr., with the No. 55 pick out of USC in the second round of this summer’s draft, and brought in LeBron’s former “Mind The Game” podcast co-host, 15-year NBA vet J.J. Redick, to serve as his new head coach.

“LeBron makes the trade so, if he wanna get traded, he’ll get traded,” Anthony said. “I think that window closed shut. Maybe last year or before that… there was a thought that, ‘Damn, this could be a possibility…’ Kuminga being a part of the trade is a big headline, because he is a major piece.”

“I would not give Kuminga up for this version of LeBron,” Jones posited. “[What trade chip would somebody have to] put on the table and make you say, ‘Okay, we’ll do that for LeBron.’ What is it? I don’t have the answer.”

“They gonna say, ‘Championship, that’s the only thing we can talk about right now,'” Anthony replied, presumably inferring that whatever returning piece arriving in Los Angeles needs to be a win-now roster upgrade, not a long-term treasure trove of assets for the still-potent 39-year-old.

James and Anthony were teammates on three Olympics squads, including a pair of loaded gold medalists in 2008 and 2012. But they were rivals for all but one of the 19 seasons their two Hall of Fame careers overlapped. Members of the same storied 2003 NBA Draft class, they only met twice in the playoffs (James’ teams won both times). During what wound up being Anthony’s final season, 2021-22, he was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise disappointing 33-49 stint with James’ Los Angeles Lakers. By that point, Anthony had transitioned into being a solid bench scorer, while James improbably remained an All-NBA standout.