The Lakers are reportedly not interested in Carmelo Anthony

As soon as rumors that Carmelo Anthony would soon part with the Houston Rockets surfaced, speculation started about whether the Los Angeles Lakers — and a reunion with his old banana boat buddy LeBron James — made sense. It would seem Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office is not interested.

During an appearance on The Jump on ESPN in which Marc Spears was asked where Anthony may head next, he said #Melo2LA is a non-starter, even if Anthony remains a close friend of LeBron James:

“I’d keep my eye on Miami, Philly. Philly’s interested. I am hearing that, not the Lakers. I think the Lakers are done.”

Go ahead, Lakers fans, let out that sigh of relief. It looks like we’re going to be okay.

At this point of his career and given the complete and utter lack of self-awareness he’s displayed about what his role should be the last few season, Carmelo Anthony is incapable of playing on a good team. If someone is looking to tank, then he makes perfect sense. But if your team has any kind of aspirations whatsoever, it has to stay as far away from Anthony as it possibly can.

For the Lakers specifically, they already have guys who play the same position Anthony would want to play. James, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and even Lance Stephenson are more capable of playing winning basketball than Melo currently is, and any minutes he would spend on the court instead of those guys would be a disastrous mistake on Luke Walton’s part.

That’s even before you get to the development Ingram and Kuzma still need to make strides with. They’re literally better basketball players than Anthony is right now, and have higher ceilings. If Anthony joined this roster, it would be with the expectation of minutes, and there just aren’t any available for him on this team.

We’ll see where Anthony winds up. Maybe he finds a team that doesn’t care about winning. Maybe he finds one that isn’t. Either way, it’s great to hear the Lakers aren’t interested at this point, even given the attraction Anthony’s name comes with.