Carmelo doesn't rule out eventually calling LeBron his teammate
On Wednesday, LeBron James was quoted in a Bleacher Report article that stated he'd "take a pay cut" to team up with pals Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony before they all retire. The statement sent shockwaves through the NBA, and even put James in some hot water with his own team.
Today, Anthony responded with some interesting comments of his own. The New York Knicks forward didn't rule out the possibility of James, Wade and Paul eventually becoming his teammates at some point down the line, but also used the words "dreams" and "fantasies" to describe LeBron's desire (via New York Daily News):
Anthony smiled when reporters asked him about LeBron’s comments and occasionally chuckled when he spoke. “I don’t know,” Anthony said after Wednesday’s 115-107 win over the Chicago Bulls. “We still got years in this league. We’ll see if that happens. Everybody dreams sometimes. Everybody has fantasies. You like that? You think it could happen?” Anthony said that the salary cap wouldn’t be an issue because LeBron “said he’ll take a pay cut.” “I'll take a pay cut if it happens,” Anthony said. “I think we all would have to take a pay cut.”
First of all, there are several reasons why it's unlikely this dream team would have the type of success Wade, Paul, LeBron and Carmelo would need in order to make a pay cut worthwhile: They're all on the wrong side of 30, in various stages of decline, with skill-sets that don't lend themselves for a natural fit.
Beyond that, even with a rising salary cap, it'd be very difficult to fit these four on the books and still have enough money left over to construct a competent supporting cast.
Anthony's defensive deficiencies alone make it problematic.
But, still, it'd definitely be fun to see what happens if they actually did come together; be it in Miami, Cleveland, Los Angeles or New York. Or the Olympics.