The Los Angeles Lakers signed Carmelo Anthony this past offseason in an effort to bolster the roster offensively.
For years now, LA has been a defensive powerhouse. That is why they claimed the championship two years ago – because they could stop anyone they came across. Offensively, however, they’ve struggled. That’s where Anthony comes in.
In the lead-up to this coming season, Anthony has been making the podcast rounds. One recent interview he did, during which he absolutely destroyed Phil Jackson, went viral immediately.
It was more of the same this week.
During an appearance on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Anthony revealed an interesting tidbit about himself — he once tried to change his name to Tyrone Johnson.
“I’m in 3rd grade. I’m coming from New York,” he said. “Nobody knows who the hell I am [in Baltimore]. I come the summer of ’92. School starts in September. So I have two months to meet some people, hang out. Mind you, I’m 8 or 9 years old at this point. When I get to 3rd grade, first day of school you gotta write your name on a white index card.
“That whole summer, people was butchering my name. It was just like ‘Caramelo’ and ‘Camelo’. “There wasn’t no nothing bad to it. I just didn’t like people f–ing my name up. … So I write the name ‘Tyrone’ and I’m looking around and I’m like ‘what last name am I gonna go with?’ So I see a textbook and it’s like ‘Johnson’ and something textbook. So I’m like, ‘Tyrone Johnson.’”
Fortunately, at some point, ‘Carmelo’ became a lot easier for people to pronounce. International success will help in that regard.
Rondo kept it real. https://t.co/UvaOAQNQYg
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 8, 2021
Name stuff notwithstanding, between changing teams and all the stuff going on in his personal life – Anthony has had a crazy year. Winning his first career championship will go a long way in righting a lot of wrongs that have occurred recently.
Will Anthony be able to get it done in 2021-22? Time will tell.
Related: Rajon Rondo Reveals What Lakers’ Current Attitude Is Like
Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
