Los Angeles Lakers: Three players that will be under the microscope
By Jason Reed
2. SG/SF Lance Stephenson
Signing Lance Stephenson was one of the most questionable moves we saw out of an NBA team this summer. While Stephenson is a fine player, he is not a tremendous producer and does not shout veteran leadership despite his experience in the league.
Most importantly, this move was met with so much confusion due to his interesting past with LeBron James. James and Stephenson have had their fair share of getting into it on the NBA court, especially in the playoffs and Stephenson has emerged as one of LeBron’s few rivals.
Perhaps the Los Angeles Lakers brought him in so another contending team, such as the Golden State Warriors, could not bring him in on a veteran minimum deal to get in LeBron’s head come playoff time.
LA also probably brought him in to serve in that same role that he played when playing James in the past with stars on other teams. Stephenson is going to be tasked with getting in the head of Kevin Durant, Draymond Green or James Harden and making things happen that could shake up the competition.
It is a bit of a trivial reason to bring someone in but Stephenson does not offer anything production-wise that the Lakers couldn’t have gotten elsewhere.
Since his past with James and his reputation, the Lakers should be watching Stephenson very closely and make sure that he is not disrupting the chemistry of the team. Whether it is butting heads with LeBron in the locker room or causing cracks in the tight young core’s relationship, any negative effect Stephenson has must be taken care of immediately.
It does not matter if the Lakers need him to play the role of troublemaker in the playoffs. If he is any sort of troublemaker for the team, he is as good as gone.