LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Paul all have a strong friendship that goes beyond basketball. Through all their battles on the court, they’ve formed a great relationship off of it and are one of the closest groups of friends in the NBA. Their group has been nicknamed the “banana boat crew” after a famous picture of James, Paul, and Wade on a banana boat from a few summers ago. Anthony was apparently taking the picture.
Not only are these players great friends, but they’re also very respectful of their legacies as players. Of the four, Anthony has always taken the most criticism for playing a style that some might consider selfish. He’s ball dominant and wants to play his way. For years that worked for him, but as age gets to him he just isn’t the same player anymore. The Rockets, recognizing that Anthony’s fall off isn’t helping them, are reportedly going to move on from him after working to acquire him in the offseason.
And it’s safe to say the Rockets decision isn’t sitting well with the banana boat crew. Dwyane Wade accused Houston on Twitter of trying to make Anthony the fall guy for its rough start. Later on Sunday he retweeted writer Tim Reynolds, who said Anthony deserves to be treated better than this.
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) November 12, 2018
James, later on, echoed the same sentiments with a Tweet of his own on top of Wade’s.
#FACTS 👇🏾 https://t.co/dds5FqoGt1
— LeBron James (@KingJames) November 12, 2018
It makes sense for them to be defensive of Anthony. He’s caught a lot of flack for the Rockets rough start because of his struggles, even if it’s very clear to anyone watching the Rockets that he has been far from the only problem. The Rockets, to their credit, are trying to make it known that Anthony is not the scapegoat for their struggles. They want to move on in a respectful manner according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
But it’s wrong to make Melo the scapegoat for the Rockets’ rough start. The Rockets aren’t. They’ve had a lot of other problems. But Melo clearly wasn’t part of the solution. Best to move on now, as respectfully as possible.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 12, 2018
Other athletes including Damian Lillard and Evan Turner also wanted to see more respect given to Anthony.
Respeck is the key word. https://t.co/qU7qqXUpPX
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) November 12, 2018
It’s unfortunate, but breakups never end well no matter the intentions. Even with the Rockets best intentions, there is no way for Anthony to look at this situation positively. He also can’t be happy that the spin to it so far has been that he is the problem in Houston. If the Rockets want to maintain their reputation across the NBA with other players then they’ll need to do some work to show that they aren’t attempting to throw Anthony under the bus.
