Carmelo Anthony & Mikal Bridges On ‘Podcast P With Paul George’

Mikail Bridges talks new era Knicks while Carmelo Anthony dispels banana boat myths on “Podcast P with Paul George”.

We share highlights from this week’s episode of “Podcast P with Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.

This week, PG and the guys are on location in Las Vegas where they are joined by Carmelo Anthony and Mikail Bridges.

During the episode, Mikail shares his the reception he’s received from Knicks fans since joining the team, and his excitement for teaming up with his fellow college teammates, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo.

Later in the episode, Carmelo Anthony breaks down the time he and LeBron nearly teamed up prior to the Miami “Big Three” and offers his thoughts on Team USA’s decision to leave NBA Finals MVP, Jaylen Brown off the roster for the Paris Olympics.

Lastly, Carmelo once and for all shares his side of the story of the infamous Banana Boat photo and why he declined the invitation to join LeBron, CP3, and D-Wade on the boat.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [2:20] MIKAIL AND PG DISCUSS THE RECEPTION THEY’VE RECEIVED SINCE JOINING THEIR NEW TEAMS

MIKAIL: “I mean I think that New York Nick love you already know how that is. It’s pretty crazy. Instagram everything. All the fans commenting, they’ve been pretty geeked. So I think the fans are really showing out right now.”

PG: “When I first came back to la but it is not the same love because when I was in LA they like Man you should have been a Laker. That’s what I was hearing. It was no ‘welcome to the Clippers’ it was more we’re happy you in LA but you should have been a Laker…That’s how the vibe felt then but now being in Philly everybody like man, we appreciate you being here. We love that you’re here. There’s so much love around it. So I definitely felt it from day one.”

• [4:01] MELO SHARES HIT THOUGHTS ON THE KNICKS OFFSEASON MOVES PG

MELO: “So this is not a biased opinion, what I’m about to say is real. I think they put together a really, really, really good roster. They Took their time to get with the pieces that they really need. It probably was a lot of pressure on them to go get a super superstar, whatever type of superstar, whoever you think would be worthy of going to the Knicks. But they ain’t listen to none of that shit. They stuck with what they was doing. They knew the pieces that they needed…They knew they needed to bring OG back. JB was that was going to happen with that contract and then now you plug and play, right. We can’t keep Hartenstein, he got to go. It’s a sad loss. You get what I’m saying? What he did for the team and his role, but that’s just the nature of the game. But to now have an opportunity to bring Julius back, a healthy Julius coming in with a different mindset and a different understanding. Like’ oh shit, we have an opportunity to go do something special.’ So now he got to figure out what he has to do and I don’t want to say fit in, but to make it work because it’s not going to be the same role for him bringing him [Mikail] on, bringing OG back. You’ve been hurt. So now it’s a different type of flow, different type of rhythm. Now you got to figure out how to work within this and still be who you are, but within all of this. So I like it. I like it a lot. I like what Philly did too. I just like that East coast energy, you know what I’m saying? I know what the energy in Philly is like and I know what the energy in New York is like.”

• [5:53] MELO REVEALS HE WAS NOT SURPRISED TO SEE MIKAIL BRIDGES WIND UP ON THE KNICKS

MELO: “Brooklyn was just a stop for him [Mikail Bridges]. That was just, ‘let me switch my bag real quick.’ You know he was coming over the water baby. Them **** was practically roommates in the city.”

PG: “Jay Wright had to be a consultant somehow. He had to orchestrate something over there.”

MIKAIL: “Nah man. I know he excited though.”

• [25:35] CARMELO REVEALS HOW CLOSE HE CAME TO TEAMING UP WITH LEBRON, CHRIS PAUL, AND DWYANE WADE

PG: “We got to ask about the infamous banana boat group. You D-Wade [Dwyane Wade], LeBron and CP [Chris Paul]. Was there any moment of y’all ever teaming up or was there conversations of y’all ever teaming up somewhere in the league?”

MELO: “Before the Miami Big Three, there were talks about me and Bron [LeBron James] because out of me, him and D Wade, we were closest…We never was all locked in until we started going and getting old. You know what I mean? And then we had experiences played on the world championship team and I think that’s when it kind of really started to blossom. I think it was because we lost together. We felt the same pain, we felt the same sentiment. So that brought us all three together. With Bron it was always like, yo, we got to make it happen some way. Somehow the opportunity comes, let’s make it happen. We just never knew where, you know what I mean? We could fuck around with each other but you ain’t going to New York, ain’t going to Cleveland. So it was just like as friends and competitors growing up together like yea we wonder [if we can play together].”

• [48:35] MELO CLEARS THE AIR ONCE AND FOR ALL ON THE INFAMOUS BANANA BOAT PHOTO AND HOW HE AVOIDED GETTING ON THE BOAT

MELO: “I get there, I’m on the tender boat, like the little boat that take you to the boat. I’m not there yet. I’m on the tender boat and I see the banana boat. I don’t even like saying the name. I see the boat over there. The yellow boat. So I see that and they, I’m, I’m driving to the boat because take my luggage, I need a glass of champagne. I’ve been traveling for a long time and I see like them and they like ‘yo, yo come on.’ I look, I say nah, I’m going to the boat man. So on the picture everybody think that I’m on the boat. I’m not on the boat! That shit [the picture] hit so hard. It’s like I can’t even escape the rifle. I went to the boat and they pulls up and they’re like, yo, come on and I say no way. I’m getting on that with y’all. There’s, there’s no way if **** catch a picture of this!? And just so happens the picture got captured.”

• [48:35] MELO AND PG WEIGH IN ON JAYLEN BROWN BEING LEFT OFF THE US OLYMPIC TEAM

MELO: “I think he should have got a shot. I think Paul [George] should have got a shot. That’s just, it is what it is. You can’t, for whatever reason it is, you can’t make it that obvious for whatever reason it is. This man bust his ass. He worked hard. He take everything that people say about him. He’s not marketable, he’s not this, he’s not that. He going to win the championship and do it the way he did it, right? How he don’t get his shot at the USA team. You want to tell me he don’t fit the style of play? So if it’s political and I don’t like using that word, that term political, but if it’s something of that nature that we don’t understand, have a conversation with the man. At least give him the respect like ‘Yo, you a champion, you won, you played on this team before. You are a part of team USA, we have history with you.’ So it’s like if it’s something that’s personal, they don’t like it’s aura, they don’t the way he think, they don’t like the way he rock out, give him the opportunity and say you know what, we’re not going to go with you. Here’s why we’re not going to go with you.”