Carmelo Anthony Lakers Trade Rumors: 10 Ways To Push the Deal Through

A new team has entered the Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes. That team is the Los Angeles Lakers. 

The Lakers are having somewhat of a disappointing season after winning a championship and seem to have lost their competitive fire. Kobe Bryant isn't happy with the teams play and they need new life. The organization thinks that Carmelo Anthony could be the guy to put them over the top and get them their third championship in a row. 

Here's a list of 10 ways the Lakers can push a deal through to acquire Carmelo Anthony and go for the their three-peat. 

Gauge Interest

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LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 03: Pau Gasol #16, Andrew Bynum #17, Kobe Bryant #24 and Derek Fisher #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers head to the bench after a time out trailing the San Antonio Spurs during the second half at Staples Center on February 3, 2011 i

The Lakers have one of the most talented teams in the NBA. For this reason, it should not be too difficult for them to beat a package that the Knicks have to offer.

They first need to make an inquisition with L.A. to see if they would be interested in making a deal with them. The Nuggets could decide that trading Carmelo to the Lakers would give away the West for a few years to come being that they would have a team of Kobe, Melo and Gasol. 

The Nuggets might not want to compete against that team for years to come, but rumor has it they are interested. 

Speculate

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CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 07: Carmelo Anthony #15 of the Denver Nuggets watches on against the Charlotte Bobcats during their game at Time Warner Cable Arena on December 7, 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and

If the Lakers are going to begin trade negotiations for Carmelo Anthony, which would definitely hurt the confidence of some of their players if the trade does not happen, they are going to need to know if he will sign an extension with them. 

The Lakers can't afford to pull the trigger on a deal for Melo and then he decides that he's going to just waltz over to New York to play with Amar'e or satisfy his wife LaLa. 

Make an Offer

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The Lakers next move would be to offer a building block of a deal. The centerpiece of the Lakers trade for Melo would be the Lakers young center, Andrew Bynum.

Bynum has had many injuries in his past, but he is a very talented big man and could soon become elite. He would be a much better option for the Nuggets than Wilson Chandler would be and he's under contract for the next couple of years, so he wouldn't be able to leave in the off-season like Chandler would be. 

Respond

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If the Nuggets are to turn down the Lakers offer, they must then respond with a better proposal. This could mean throwing in a future first round pick or another player. 

The Lakers also have some cheap young talent that the Nuggets might be interested in. These players include the versatile forward Devin Ebanks and the talented big man, Derrick Caracter. If the Nuggets want any of these players, the Lakers would be more than willing to throw them in as they don't play much for them anyway. 

Keep Denver Interested

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If Denver turns down a deal of Bynum + Caracter/Ebanks, the Lakers must keep Denver interested. They have to always remain a step ahead of the New York Knicks. 

It will be up to Jerry Buss to make sure Denver management knows that they are serious about making a deal for Carmelo Anthony and that they are willing to make a better offer to acquire the superstar. 

Change The Trade Up

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LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 03: Lamar Odum #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after a tip in by Antonio McDyess #34 of the San Antonio Spurs with less than a second on the clock for a 89-88 Spur win at Staples Center on February 3, 2011 in Los Angeles, C

After the Lakers have kept the Nuggets interested, they could now see if Denver would prefer to trade for another player on their team. 

The Nuggets could prefer a deal that centers around Lamar Odom. Denver would be losing their starting small forward and Odom would fill that hole for them. Bynum would basically be pushing Nene into a bench position or down to the power forward spot where he would be playing somewhere that is not comfortable for him. 

A deal of Odom and Artest could entice the Nuggets more than Bynum, but it is likely that Bynum would need to be included in any Melo deal. 

Take Back a Big Contract

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At this point, if the Nuggets aren't interested in trading Melo for Bynum straight up essentially, the Lakers need to take back an undesirable contract. 

This could be either Nene's contract or Al Harrington's. Nene would make a lot more sense as he could actually contribute greatly to the Lakers in the playoffs. 

So to make the trade work, at this point the Lakers could trade Bynum, Artest, Walton and a Trade Exception for Carmelo and Nene. 

This trade should be the winner as the Nuggets would free up cap space and get a young stud in Bynum who could be great for a guy like Ty Lawson going forward. 

The Kobe Call

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If there was any doubt that Carmelo Anthony would sign an extension with L.A then a call from the Black Mamba himself might help. 

Kobe could reach Melo easily as the two were friends on Team USA. Having the leader of the team your about to be traded to call you to tell you that he approves of you coming and that they want you in their city to help them compete for a title would mean a lot to somebody like Carmelo. 

Carmelo wants to be in a big market and Kobe could tell him just how big L.A is for a basketball player. Especially a star like Carmelo. 

Make The Final Negotiations

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LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 19: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers makes the free throw for his 24,177 career point to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for second place on the Lakers all-time scoring list in the third quarter during the game against the Ch

In the final stages of this deal, the Nuggets will definitely be scared. It's tough for a new GM to have to face the reality of trading a top 10 player in the NBA. If they try to back out, the Lakers could sweeten the deal. 

Throwing in a first round pick, or maybe even two, would get this thing done. The Nuggets would have a solid young core and both teams would be satisfied with the deal even though they had to give up key parts of their cores. 

Now there's nothing left to do, but...

Make It Official and Win an NBA Title

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The last step would be to go through the big man, David Stern for approval on the trade. 

After this trade is approved there is only one thing to do for the Lakers. That task would be to get the three-peat by winning the NBA championship. The Nuggets on the other hand can still continue to push for the playoffs and would do so while rebuilding. 

This should be the last time you hear about the Lakers trying to trade for a star for a while. Or at least until they realize that they could potentially trade for Dwight Howard, similar to the way they traded for Melo.