LeBron James used three words to recruit his rival to the Lakers
Due to the NBA’s salary cap, we may never know how valuable LeBron James truly is to whichever team he suits up for.
But we are realizing how influential LeBron is, and a perfect example of that is “The King” persuading his rival to join his side and sign with the Lakers.
Lance Stephenson was one of the first free agent additions by the Lakers after LeBron signed, and his move caught many off guard.
But James pushed for Stephenson to join him in LA, according to Pacers President Kevin Pritchard.
“I think when LeBron calls you up and says, ‘I want you,’ it’s hard for him to turn that down,” Pritchard said at a Friday press conference.
The LeBron-vs.-Lance feud goes back to when James was in Miami and Stephenson was in his first stint in Indiana. Stephenson blowing into the ear of LeBron has to be one of the most viewed social media videos ever, but there’s an updated version to it now that they’re teammates.
https://twitter.com/WhistleSports/status/1013845461357096960
The two even had an incident in this year’s playoffs when Stephenson was whistled for a technical foul after swiping his arm across the top of LeBron’s head.
Review (Game Crew): if a hostile act occurred in Q1 of #INDatCLE Ruling: Personal foul on Lance Stephenson, followed by a technical foul on Stephenson for dead ball contact to the head of LeBron James. https://t.co/mxZOeXqMkE pic.twitter.com/6RJP1LdQiL
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) April 29, 2018
But despite their history, James apparently likes what Stephenson can bring to the table, and when Magic Johnson pitched the likes of Stephenson and Rajon Rondo as free agent additions, LeBron gave his approval, according to an ESPN report.
Stephenson apparently even reached out to James’ agent to make sure that his top client was OK with their teaming up.
If you worried about chemistry between LeBron James and Lance Stephenson, here's reason for optimism. They've had some battles, but Stephenson's agent called Rich Paul to make sure LeBron was ok with him coming, sources tell me and @BA_Turner
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 2, 2018
The Lakers will be Stephenson’s seventh team since 2015, and it will be his second stop in LA after a disastrous stint with the Clippers three years ago.
There’s a reason he’s bounced around the league, and Pritchard summed it up perfectly:
kevin pritchard on lance:
“sometimes he was the best player on our team and sometimes he was the best player on the other team. we love lance and we wish him the best."
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) July 6, 2018
Bitter rivals becoming teammates in the NBA certainly isn’t unprecedented. It worked out when Dennis Rodman joined Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the Bulls, and the Lakers are hoping they experience similar success to Chicago.
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