The idea of Lance Stephenson being on the same team with LeBron James used to be barbershop talk until this year’s summer came along when the Los Angeles Lakers made it a reality. After all, that’s what Hollywood does best – take a script and turn it into something that would entertain the masses.
And what’s more entertaining than lumping two on-court rivals together?
But as intense as the two players’ rivalry has been over the years, Stephenson said that James actually wanted the Lakers to sign the former Indiana Pacers sparkplug, per Dana Benbow of Indy Star.
“Magic (Johnson) called me and he told me LeBron was interested, very interested in me,” Stephenson said. As a teammate.
Stephenson told Johnson, “Give me a few hours to make this decision.”
“I decided to go there and, hopefully, we will win a lot of games and have fun,” he said.
As what most Lakers fans now know, Stephenson eventually signed a one-year, $4.45 million deal with the team back in July or just a day before the four-time MVP officially inked the contract that would keep him in Tinseltown for the next four years and boost his wallet by $153.5 million over that span.
Stephenson is part of LA’s cauldron of interesting characters surrounding James.
Apart from Stephenson, the Lakers also signed the likes of Michael Beasley, JaVale McGee, and Rajon Rondo during the summer.
Last season, Stephenson averaged 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 82 games for the Pacers team that got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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