Lakers Target Ready For NBA, Better Than '60 Percent', Trainer Says

Carmelo Anthony remains a free agent and is struggling to garner interest from teams looking to fill their roster before training camp gets underway ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. The 10-time All-Star’s trainer is hoping his client gets signed after revealing that Anthony is keen to play one more season in the NBA and bid farewell like Dwayne Wade did with the Miami Heat this past season.

The 35-year-old forward was signed by the Houston Rockets last season but played only 10 games before he was removed from the lineup. He was traded to the Chicago Bulls in January but they immediately waived him making him a free agent.

Anthony has not played since November 2018 but his trainer Chris Brickley says that the power forward is “100 percent” ready to get back to playing in the NBA and even suggested that he is better than “60 or 70 percent” of the players currently playing in the league. He also made it clear that Anthony will not demand to be treated as one of the main stars on the team and that he just wants to have one final farewell season.

“Yes, given the situation. Allen Iverson, if you remember. He kind of got, some people say, blackballed. He got into a situation in his career, where teams would be like, 'Oh, he's gonna want this role, so we're gonna stay away.' I think that's what's going on with Melo right now,” Brickley said, as quoted on Bleacher Report.

“He's easily better than 60 percent, 70 percent of NBA players walking around. It's just I think teams are afraid of, 'I want to be the star,' or 'I want this.' That's not the case, though. Melo just wants to have a final season, a farewell season, do what D-Wade did. Do the jersey swap. He had a great career, he's a Hall of Famer. So, hopefully that can happen,” he added.

The Los Angeles Lakers were linked with a move for Anthony but their interest seems to have cooled after they made a flurry of additions after missing out on Kawhi Leonard in free agency. They do have one roster spot empty but many insiders are speculating that they are waiting to see if Andre Iguodala will become available.

The New York Knicks, Anthony’s former team, have also been linked with reports suggesting the forward would not mind ending his career with the team he spent six years with between 2011 and 2017. But at the moment the interest seems to non-existent but Anthony has got the support of Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard, who has called for the NBA to give the All-Star forward another chance.