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Carmelo Anthony had the opportunity to team up with some combination of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh before the trio joined forces in Miami with the Heat.
During a recent appearance on Paul George’s podcast, the now-retired Anthony detailed how he and LeBron James were initially planning on playing together in either New York or Chicago.
As the landscape of the NBA developed over the following years, LeBron decided to head to Miami to team up with Wade and Bosh, which is something that Anthony couldn’t let himself do as he didn’t want to be a fourth option on a team in that stage of his career.
“At that time, I wasn’t ready to go partner and team up with nobody,” Anthony said. “Because I was building my own s— in Denver. So to leave my own s— and team up with somebody… it wouldn’t have worked, because we were all young and all going down our own path. ‘Nah, I’m over here, whatever y’all going to do, ya’ll going to do.'”
“Imagine me at 23 years old, 24 years old, being the fourth option on the team, when I’m leading my team every single year. Like, I’m finding my way in this league. And you want me to leave that, and go be a fourth option? I don’t know mentally how I was going to be ready for that. It ain’t got nothing to do with money.”
Carmelo reveals how he & LeBron almost teamed up in Chicago before the Miami Big 3 formed.
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Ultimately, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh would play in four straight NBA Finals and won the title in 2012 and 2013. Anthony, on the other hand, retired without ever having played in the NBA Finals, let alone winning it.
Anthony, Wade, and Bosh have all since retired from the NBA. LeBron, however, is still going strong — so strong, in fact, that he’ll be the men’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Olympics this summer.