LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are extremely close friends. The duo entered the league in 2003 as two of the standout talents from their draft class. And since entering the league, both of them have had very different career paths. LeBron has gone on to win multiple championships, whereas Anthony has been one of the biggest stars in the leagues, but hasn’t been fortunate enough to come close to an NBA title. However, their friendship has gone beyond the court for a long time now.
And as very close friends, the two would do anything for each other. There came a time when LeBron had to do that for Carmelo. On a vacation a few years ago, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade went on a boat to go ocean diving. However, James noticed that Anthony had not made it back to the boat, as he stuck around to get some extra looks in the ocean.
A scary moment occurred when Carmelo realized that the ocean currents were too strong and he wasn’t able to swim himself back to the boat. Fortunately, LeBron James had been looking for him and saw him struggling. Without any second thought, James ran into the ocean to help him. Carmelo recalled, in a conversation with Dwyane Wade, that James dragged him with one arm, and swam back with the other.
“I look up, the current is taking me in the middle of the ocean, like opposite from the boat… and it was windy. All type of s— was going through my head, I’m gonna be honest with you. And then I look up at the boat and I see Bron. Bron jumps off the boat like he is MacGyver. He was bringing me back with one arm. He’s swimming with the other arm and he carrying me with one.”
LeBron and Anthony came out of the situation completely unharmed. But it allowed them to become even closer, given the nature of the experience. Anthony noted that the duo can now joke about it, after a few years, having been able to process the incident.
