NBA Free Agency: Twitter Reacts To Lance Stephenson Teaming Up With LeBron James
Lance Stephenson and LeBron James have long been rivals on the court dating back to the Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat playoff series a few years back. Now, however, Stephenson and James are set to take the court together on the same team. That’s right, both players have agreed to contracts with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Coming into the offseason, the Lakers were talked about as the team with the best chance to steal James from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stephenson was a big part of the Pacers last season, but the team decided to decline his player option at the beginning of free agency.
From Stephenson blowing in James’ ear to physical play and technical fouls between the two, Stephenson and James have given fans many entertaining moments throughout the years.
Simply thinking about them being on the same team is entertaining. The move has made NBA Twitter go into hysteria with plenty of hilarious comments about the duo.
Check out some of the tweets that were sent out after Stephenson decided to join James in Los Angeles.
LeBron + Lance!!!!!!
THE NBA IS THE GREATEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD!!!! https://t.co/zJCCyfgzKc
— Laker Film Room (@LakerFilmRoom) July 2, 2018
LeBron: "I just don't know how I feel about leaving J.R., to be honest"
Magic: "Yeah no I totally get that, let me see what I can do"
*Takes out phone, texts Lance Stephenson*
"U up?"— Charlotte Wilder (@TheWilderThings) July 2, 2018
Lance Stephenson on the Lakers ??
Can’t pest LeBron if they on the same team pic.twitter.com/kJiER3mfwh
— IGZ (@igzrap) July 2, 2018
Classic line from LeBron during the 2012 Playoffs when Lance was not part of the Pacers’ rotation:
“Lance Stephenson? You want a quote about Lance Stephenson? I’m not even going to give him the time. Knock it off.”
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 2, 2018
Those are just a few of the responses that NBA fans and analysts sent out following the Stephenson signing. Los Angeles is going to be fun to watch, end of story. They also went out and signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and JaVale McGee this evening.
How James and Stephenson will fit together is another intriguing question. Stephenson plays best when he has the basketball in his hands. That could happen off the bench, but when James and Stephenson are on the court together that simply will not happen.
Last season with the Pacers, Stephenson averaged 9.2 points per game to go along with 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. He shot 42.7 percent from the floor overall and knocked down 28.9 percent of his three-point attempts. His numbers may not look amazing, but the impact that he had on games was huge.
James, on the other hand, put together one of the best all-around seasons of his storied career. He averaged 27.5 points, 9.1 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game, according to ESPN statistics. Cleveland did not have as much talent around James as he has become used to, but he was still able to power them to the NBA Finals.
Los Angeles will be a tough contender for the Golden State Warriors to face come playoff time. James heading to the Lakers has shaken up the entire league and the 2018-19 NBA season will be better for it.
