Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking every post-LeBron James signing of the offseason

4. Signing Lance Stephenson

From here on out, I actually do not mind any of the moves the Los Angeles Lakers made. It seems like a lot of fans and analysts are picking apart the team’s weird signings throughout the offseason. However, aside from the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope re-signing, I think what the Lakers have done this offseason is smart.

Bringing in Lance Stephson is one of those deals that not many consider a big move now, but come late in the season, the Lakers’ plan will become apparent and his value will be showcased alongside James.

First and foremost, you could make the argument that the Lakers only signed Stephenson so another Western Conference team could not sign him to be a LeBron stopper. That definitely could hold some merit, but I think that his value extends beyond that.

Stephenson is going to be the perfect chaos player to bring off the bench for the Lakers. During the season, Stephenson may be limited in minutes and will not put up the most eye appealing stat line.

However, in big games and in the playoffs, the Lakers will likely use Stephenson as a defensive stopper as well as someone to provoke the likes of Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and James Harden.

It is going to be really fun to watch Stephenson pick at opposing players during the playoffs and I am happy he is finally doing it in the purple and gold.