LOS ANGELES — If you want to know what a room full of all-time NBA greats had to say to one another, Carmelo Anthony has his lips sealed. That’s how much regard he has for the company he kept last weekend.
Anthony, 37, sacrificed part of his All-Star break to trek through Midwestern storms to Cleveland, where he was honored as one of the 75 best players in NBA history for the league’s 75th anniversary. Though the Lakers forward has officially been a part of the team since the league named its honorees in October, there was an electricity, he said, being among some 50 other NBA legends encompassing decades of history.
“You just kind of have to take it all in and sit there and reflect back on all the years and everything that you did to get to that moment,” he said. “It was just a room that you weren’t expected to be in. Growing up, nobody ever (thought about it, and) I didn’t think about that.”
Anthony was one of four active Lakers to be honored, though only two traveled to the assembly: LeBron James went as the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game. Anthony Davis’ injury disrupted his plans to travel to Cleveland for the game – his 75th anniversary blue blazer arrived for him in L.A. this week. Russell Westbrook did not attend so he could be with his mother for her birthday.
James and Anthony were introduced with their colleagues amid much fanfare at halftime of the All-Star Game.
Anthony found himself in a junction of some of his closest friends in the league – James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul – but also players he watched growing up (including the sometimes elusive Michael Jordan) and greats who played before he was born. Even more obscure members of the 75 didn’t escape him: “I did know what Bob Pettit looked like. I’m a student of the game,” Anthony quipped at a reporter’s tongue-in-cheek question.
As for conversations between those members of the 75, what happened in Cleveland stays in Cleveland, Anthony said. But the exclusivity of that group is what made it special.
“For me, it was more so the respect that a lot of the older players was given: It was surprising to see that and feel that,” he said. “It was almost like that moment needed to happen in order for you to be validated. If that makes sense from the fraternity, right?
Added Anthony: “There’s a lot in that. A lot of different personalities, a lot of different career paths. A lot of insight. A lot of knowledge. So for me, to try and understand everything and everybody and being in that room, that energy, it’s like, I’m a part of this. I’m a part of this fraternity.”
Moving forward, Anthony is hoping to build on his top-75 resume by trying to straighten out the Lakers’ trajectory.
Entering Friday’s game against the Clippers, the 10-time All-Star and former scoring champion had not played since Feb. 3 – incidentally the Lakers’ last game against the Clippers – with a hamstring strain. As the team’s fourth-leading scorer (13.4 ppg) and one of the few healthy forwards, Anthony’s absence was deeply felt, Coach Frank Vogel said.
With the time off, Anthony said he never really got a break, but did feel “recharged” as the Lakers face their final stretch.
“Your body is going to tell you what you can do, how you can do it and when you can do it, especially when you’re dealing with what I was dealing with,” he said. “But I feel much better. I feel a lot better. Practiced yesterday, nothing lingering. I felt good. I felt good today in shootaround. I didn’t really have a chance to take a break because I’ve been back home and trying to rehab. Just trying to wrap and get my mind right.”