As people continue to lock themselves indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic, some of the world’s greatest athletes are using their newfound freetime to connect with fans and share some of their favorite personal stories. Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony did exactly that over bottles of wine on Instagram Live on Friday in an enjoyable career-spanning conversation.
Carmelo Anthony tells story of LeBron James saving him from drowning in the Bahamas
Listen to Anthony, along with Dwyane Wade, tell the story of the time James saved him from drowning.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Wade and Anthony reminisced about the start of their friendship, talked about their favorite Kobe Bryant memories, and discussed Anthony’s return to the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers. You can listen to the entire discussion here, which lasted about an hour.
During the chat, Wade and Anthony revealed one story that had never been told before: the time LeBron James jumped into the ocean to save Anthony from drowning while the friends were together on a vacation in the Bahamas. Here’s the clip:
Anthony shared the story at the pleading of Wade’s wife, Gabrielle Union. It clearly caught Anthony off guard: “I’m sweating right now thinking about that,” Anthony says before he starts the story.
Anthony: We jumped off the boat in the Bahamas, everybody swam to the little grotto over there, underneath. Then we came out. All y’all went to the boat. It was my fault though, because I’m still trying to see the last little bit of the barracudas snorkeling and all that. It was my fault. Then I look up, and the current is taking me in the middle of the ocean opposite from the boat.
Wade: We couldn’t see you.
Anthony: I know. And it was windy. All types of shit was going on through my head, I’ll be honest with you.
Anthony: Then I look up at the boat, and I see Bron jump off the boat like he’s MacGyver. He jumps off the boat into the water. He was bringing me back with one arm. He’s swimming with the other arm. He’s carrying me in one arm.
Wade: Listen, I’ve told people this story before. I’ve seen LeBron do lots of amazing things on the court. Off the court, when he went and saved Melo life.
Anthony: He saved my life. I can’t hold you. He saved my life, he saved my life.
Anthony: Yo Bron, I appreciate that, you saved my life that day. Them little flippers wasn’t working for me.
There are plenty of pictures of the years of James, Wade, Anthony. and Chris Paul drinking wine on vacation together. There is of course the infamous banana boat picture. This story certainly appears to be from a similar time frame, which makes the legend of the banana boat even more fascinating.
Thankfully, Anthony is still alive and able to laugh about the story. Just add this to the list of James’ greatest accomplishments.
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