Lance Stephenson leaving the Indiana Pacers had a 50/50 chance of happening this summer. On one hand, you'd like to keep his grit-and-grind contributions to fight tooth and nail with the best of them, but at the same time, it's not really wise to lock yourself in a long-term deal with a guy that has so many red flags.
What many did not expect, however, was the Brooklyn native coming over to the Los Angeles Lakers to team up with longtime foe LeBron James at a surprisingly decent rate too at just $4.5 million on a one-year, make-good deal.
It is probably safe to say that we would not be seeing any ear blowing in the foreseeable future – unless it's directed towards the visiting team, and very likely his former compatriots in Indy.
That said, Stephenson was very classy with his departure, posting a farewell message on his Instagram account. The 27-year-old expressed his excitement in donning the Purple and Gold and thanked the Pacers for welcoming him back, molding him into the slightly mature professional he is now, and cited that Indianapolis will forever be his home.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BktsfHnD10h/?hl=en&taken-by=stephensonlance
Stephenson's versatility guarantees the 6-foot-5 combo guard-forward plenty of minutes – whether it is backing up Lonzo Ball as a spot ballhandler and playmaker (probably not the best usage), promising rookie Josh Hart at the two-guard, or less likely the bottleneck at the forward positions with Brandon Ingram and the newly-minted Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
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