Anthony, Paul join him in charity game vs. D.C.
LeBron James helped create the Big Three in Miami last season in the NBA. Now he’s going to do it again in Baltimore.
Having been recruited by New York Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony, James and New Orleans point guard Chris Paul will represent the Melo League — a summer pro-am league run in connection with Anthony’s Melo Foundation — against a team that includes Oklahoma City superstar Kevin Durant and mostly fellow D.C. natives on Tuesday at Morgan State.
The all-star clash comes just 10 days after a much anticipated game between a team representing Washington’s Goodman League and a team from the Drew League of Los Angeles. Tuesday’s game has been billed as Baltimore vs. Washington, but neither team’s roster is made up of players exclusively from those cities.
“With this lockout, we said let’s do a little all-star game with some guys,” Melo Foundation athletic director Kurk Lee said. “With Melo, he’s brought in LeBron and Chris Paul.”
Lee said the rest of the Melo team’s roster includes Eric Bledsoe (Los Angeles Clippers), Donte Greene (Sacramento), Josh Selby (Memphis), Gary Neal (San Antonio) and Eddy Curry (New York).
The D.C. team will be headlined by Durant, Jarrett Jack (New Orleans), Jeff Green (Boston), Dante Cunningham (Charlotte), Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee) and other streetball players. The team is not scheduled to include Wizards guard John Wall, who played with the Goodman League team against the Drew League.
Unlike the Goodman-Drew game, which took place at the 1,500-capacity gym at Trinity, Tuesday’s contest will be held at Talmadge L. Hill Field House, which can seat up to 4,500 fans. Lee said tickets will be sold at the door ($40 or $100 for floor seats) to help avoid the issue of counterfeits, which led to many of those who purchased tickets for the game at Trinity being unable to get in. Proceeds from the game are slated for the Melo Foundation.
Goodman League commissioner Miles Rawls, who will lend his famed entertaining skills as emcee to the event, said a Goodman-Drew rematch in Los Angeles has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 25.
