Over the years, the bond shared between LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul has been one of the NBA’s best-told stories of friendship — featuring everything from wine nights to the infamous Banana Boat picture.
During an Instagram Live video chat with Wade on Friday — and at the urging of Gabrielle Union, renowned actress and Wade’s wife — Anthony revealed another chapter in that story: the time James saved his life.
“We jumped off the boat in the Bahamas,” Anthony said, “everybody swam to the little grotto over there, underneath. Then we came out. All y’all went to the boat. [But I didn’t]. It was my fault though, because I’m still trying to see the last little bit of the barracudas snorkeling and all that. …Then I look up, and the current is taking me in the middle of the ocean opposite from the boat.”
Wade, who had been reluctant to get into the water due to the quick-moving currents in the first place, recalled losing sight of Anthony altogether at that point.
That’s when the winds got worse, threatening to pull Anthony further out into the water as worst-case scenarios flooded through his head, he recalled.
“Then I look up at the boat, and I see Bron jump off the boat like he’s MacGyver,” Anthony said. “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.
“He saved my life. … Yo Bron, I appreciate that, you saved my life that day. Them little flippers wasn’t working for me.”
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