Lance Stephenson kept it pretty business-like, he is serious about playing on the Lakers, we were hoping for some fun stuff.
On learning from LeBron:
LS: Learning from him, he’s a high IQ player, just by watching him you can learn from him. I think every day even in practice, how he prepares for games — I’m looking forward to it, it’s definitely going to be a great season.
On the importance of defense and teaching points:
LS: Defense starts with being in tiptop shape — if you’re not in shape, you can’t play the best defense you can possibly play — offseason I just try to get myself in the best shape possible. You gotta want to stop someone. You gotta get mad when someone’s scoring on you, that’s the type of defender I am. Just bring the aggressiveness every night and want to stop the best player on the team.
On LeBron wanting Stephenson to play with him:
LS: It was definitely a surprise him wanting me to play with him and being a part of this team — I think, for the most part, it’s defense, that’s what’s going to keep you on the floor.
On the competitive pickup games:
LS: Pick up games was very intense, everyone wants to win and everyone wants to show coach how hard they have been working in the offseason – I mean those pickup games was definitely amazing — just to get to know everyone — coming in early playing those pickup games definitely created a bond — even to get to the coaches too.
On players on the team never backing down from LeBron:
LS: We never backed down from him – He wanted to have a tough group of guys around him to definitely back him up or be there for him — I feel he picked the right guys.
On the ear incident:
LS: Nah, we ain’t talk about none of that, but I’m waiting for it though, I’m waiting for him to say something about it .
LIVE: @StephensonLance joins us on his first Media Day as a Laker. https://t.co/t7reKI41Sc
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 24, 2018
Lance feels like the young core wants to bring it every night and they are in tiptop shape, asking a bunch of questions.