LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have been tight since both were nationally known prep stars in Ohio and Virginia two decades ago. They were drafted together in 2003, have faced off in friendly battles in the NBA, and have vacationed together.
Therefore, it didn’t take much convincing when King James made a recruiting call to Anthony, aka “C-Melo” or “Melo,” to persuade him to take his talents to the Lakers. In fact, it only took three words.
“I need you,” Melo recalls James saying during his interview on the “Million Dollarz Worth of Game” podcast.
“That was a real call. It was no bull—. I wasn’t expecting the call. I mean, we talked about getting together years ago.” Melo said. “That’s my brother. I’ve known him since we were 15 or 16 years old. I heard it … ‘I need you.’ Say less. You already know what time it is when you hit me direct.”
C-Melo said he could feel in King James’ voice that this was more than just the idle conversation that they had a decade earlier. In 2010, LeBron tried to get Melo to join him in Miami with another legend, Dwyane Wade. But Chris Bosh ended up in South Beach with LBJ and D-Wade and they went to four straight NBA Finals, winning two chips. C-Melo has yet to win a title and is subsequently hungrier for a ring than he was when he was the marquee player for the Denver Nuggets.
“So he hit me and said ‘yo, champ, the time is now,’ ” said Melo, who was on the podcast to promote his new book Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised.
Once C-Melo got the OK to move to LA from his New York-based son, it was a wrap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG6buhH_Ia0
