Kobe Bryant reveals what he told LeBron right after he signed with the Lakers
LeBron James comes to Los Angeles with big shoes to fill, high expectations and a legacy to continue at one of the most successful franchises in sports.
The Lakers see themselves as a family, and one of the most successful offspring of them all, Kobe Bryant, is embracing the newest member.
“Welcome to the family,” Bryant tweeted in the moments after it was announced Monday that James had signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers.
Welcome to the family @KingJames #lakers4life #striveforgreatness @JeanieBuss @MagicJohnson and RP well done!!! 🙌🏾
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 2, 2018
On Monday, the Lakers legend appeared on the “Stephen A. Smith Show” on ESPN Radio and revealed what he had told the team’s new superstar.
“I spoke to (LeBron) during the playoffs and then I talked to him last night, right after the decision. I told him, ‘Welcome to the family, man.’ It sounds crazy but I said, ‘Dude, you are part of the family now. So anything you need on my end, I got you. Whatever the case may be, I am here for you.’ Just wishing him and his family the best and looking forward to seeing them when they get in,” Bryant told Smith, reported ESPN.
“Dude, as people, you got to help your brothers do well. I had a great run, I played 20 years, it was awesome, I had a great time, we are fortunate enough to win five championships and all that. Now it is somebody else’s time. And that is what the Lakers have always been about,” he added.
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“When I came here, Magic (Johnson) welcomed me with open arms, me and Shaq (O’Neal), and we were able to carry on the tradition with Magic’s and Kareem’s (Abdul-Jabbar) support and certainly it is our responsibility to pay that forward. So anything that I can do whatsoever to help LeBron bring a championship back to the city of LA, I am all for it,” Bryant told Smith.
With DeMarcus Cousins signing a one-year $5.3 million deal with the Golden State Warriors on Monday, the road to a championship got even more difficult. Bryant is hopeful about the Lakers prospects, but the pressure now ratchets up.
“With LeBron on this roster, I don’t think it will be much of an issue to make the playoffs,” Bryant said, according to ESPN. “The dreams are substantially bigger now. LeBron accelerates the learning curve for these young guys, and they will be able to learn a lot faster because they will get a chance to watch him work every single day, how he comes to practice, how he takes care of his body and how he handles his nutrition. They will be able to learn really, really quickly. This is really going to help Lonzo’s (Ball) and Kyle’s (Kuzma) growth and the rest of the guys.”
“For us to have a player like LeBron here, it just creates so much energy (for the city of Los Angeles and the NBA),” Bryant told Smith. “Players like Lonzo and Kyle and others now have that really good pressure to push them forward sooner rather than later. I can’t wait to see them respond to it.”
The Lakers also added point guard Rajon Rondo, 32, on Monday, signing him to a one-year $9 million contract.
Breaking: Rajon Rondo agrees to a 1-year, $9M deal with Lakers, per @ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/4hezGMZE7Z
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 2, 2018
James likes playing with veterans, which is why the Lakers are going out and getting battle-tested players like Rondo and Lance Stephenson.
Rondo to the Lakers? With Lance? Surrounding LeBron? This is going to be … interesting. It's like we're playing bad fit bingo.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) July 2, 2018
Where the Rondo acquisition leaves Ball remains to be seen. The Lakers say it’s an open competition for the point guard between Ball and Rondo, according to USA Today, but one wonders what future Ball has in LA.
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