NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers Secure Carmelo Anthony Contract; All-Star drops Kristaps Porzingis, Picks D'Angelo Russell

By Mitch de Leon
Carmelo Anthony
The New York Knicks ponder hiring Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton to help Carmelo Anthony lift the team to the NBA playoffs. ESPN FIRST TAKE/YouTube

The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for stars who can take over where the great Kobe Bryant left off. With the Black Mamba out of the Jordan Clarkson team, the basketball squad is in dire need of a veteran superstar to lead the young ones. Even before the NBA Finals are over, it looks like the Los Angeles Lakers found the best All-Star to mentor the budding stars - Carmelo Anthony.

The New York Knicks star has been the center of the NBA team for a long time. In the same period, the Kristaps Porzingis squad has failed to give the All-Star a chance to take part of the playoffs. Hence, rumors are rife that Anthony wants to be on a team that can become a contender in the Finals. While earlier speculations pointed to a possible super team with Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul, it looks like a stint with the famed Los Angeles Lakers under their new mentor, Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton will be more feasible for the New York Knicks star.

Earlier in the 2015-16 NBA season, Anthony showed off his ability to act as a big brother to Kristaps Porzingis. However, their combined efforts still failed to bring the New York Knicks to the playoffs. Will moving to the Los Angeles Lakers give Anthony a better shot at achieving his goals? Can D'Angelo Russell act as a better support system for the veteran New York Knicks star?

The answer may not be that simple. It looks like the New York Knicks have no plans of letting Anthony go anytime soon. In fact, the NBA All-Star might just be the team's leverage in luring Kevin Durant into their roster. With the huge boost in salary cap soon, the New York Knicks have a legitimate shot at actually luring the Oklahoma City Thunder star in their team.

"Sure. Carmelo's a superstar," said Jeff Hornacek when asked about the capacity of the New York Knicks to become title contenders next NBA season. The newly hired head coach of the Kristaps Porzingis team added, "There's free agency with this influx of money that's coming in for this season and next season, it gives you an opportunity to be able to add to that. And that's part of Phil (Jackson) and Steve (Mills) and myself and having the input of Carmelo and his influence of trying to get a couple more star players here. And if you do that you have a shot to win a championship."

Apart from Anthony, Hornacek also pointed out the promising future of Porzingis in the New York Knicks. The young Latvian star, who proved his critics wrong in the NBA 2015-16 season, is believed to have the potential to blossom into the likes of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook in the league.

"You don't see a guy 7-3 that can do multiple things," said Hornacek of Porzingis. He added, "In our offense, you could see him in some high pick and rolls out of the sets we have, fading for threes. At 7-3, I still believe you can get him on the post and if a team want to try and play him with a small guy and get up into him, then we can throw him down there and take advantage of his height in there."

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