Lance Stephenson
This brings us to easily the most entertaining of the four “Suicide Squad” signings, Lance Stephenson. If you have forgotten, Lance and LeBron have had some interesting, highly tense moments between each other throughout the years. The most infamous of which is, of course, the ear-blowing moment that was one of the first great NBA memes.
LeBron was fine with the Lance signing, which commenced the “Suicide Squad” comparisons when he was added with McGee. Many were puzzled about how the Lance signing would translate to the finished product, but Lakers GM Rob Pelinka explained they wanted to add as many playmakers and versatile defenders as possible with Rondo and Lance. He also further explained Lance, saying this:
"“If you study championship and playoff teams of the past, if you look at Michael Jordan having a player like Dennis Rodman, look at Kobe [Bryant]’s teams with Metta [World Peace], having a tough player that brings an edge to the game like Lance is a really nice ingredient,” Pelinka said. “That, I think, with LeBron’s leadership will pervade to our young core as well and just give them a sense of swagger and toughness.”"
I love the idea and everything, but we already discussed how Rondo is a below-average defender, and Lance is much, much worse. Lance ranked 511th out of 521 total NBA players in DRPM, only five spots in front of a terrible defender that Lakers fans will be familiar with, Isaiah Thomas. His Offensive Real Plus-Minus still leaves much to be desired, as he is ranked 44th among all shooting guards in that category.
The Lakers’ have a crowded shooting guard position, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Josh Hart, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Lance Stephenson. It’s unclear how much the rookie Svi will play, but given his Summer League play you would hope he’d get a chance to prove himself over Lance.
It should be absolutely paramount that Lance doesn’t get more minutes than KCP or Hart. KCP and Hart were 19th and 33rd in Real Plus-Minus among shooting guards, respectively, while Lance was 90th. He shouldn’t be a threat to their playing time, as he’s easily the worst signing of the four discussed in this article.