Talk of a Melo Trade... to the Lakers?

This whole NBA season has been filled with speculation that Carmelo Anthony would be traded to the New York Knicks considering Melo has expressed interest in going there. The Nuggets have had talks with that franchise and even some discussions with the New Jersey Nets but to all no avail. Now there seems to be another team involved: the Los Angeles Lakers. Talks between the two teams have just begun and there seems to be a possible trade forming around Carmelo Anthony and Andrew Bynum.

From the outside this trade looks suspicious. Why would the Lakers trade away Andrew Bynum and some other players for Carmelo Anthony? Melo is a great player and he would probably do fine in LA but the Lakers key is their big men and trading one of them away may shake up that team too much. The Heat have shown the dangers of having an undersized team and while they have leveled out and have improved, there is still a danger of making that big of trade.

Then again, this might not be anything real. Perhaps this is a ploy designed to get the Knicks back in the mix and offering more than the Lakers. The Knicks are hovering around .500 and while they can get into the playoffs, they certainly don't have the talent to go far in them. Carmelo Anthony can change that for sure and even help them get a better playoff spot. They will probably still come up short but it will get them farther.

Bottom line is that this is not a likely deal. The Lakers already have a championship caliber team and don't need to change the formula. Plus there will be speculation on whether or not Kobe Bryant and Melo could even get along. The Triple Heat have gotten along, true, but Kobe has 5 rings compared to Melo's 0. There's only 1 ring in that Triple Heat combo. Maybe Melo doesn't want to be in Kobe's shadow.