3. Lance Stephenson and the rest of the “MUD” group will make this season entertaining
To no one’s surprise, the most interesting and entertaining interview of the day was Lance Stephenson. At one point he showed off his freestyle skills, and he let everyone know that he and LeBron still have yet to discuss the incident where Stephenson blew in his ear a few years back in the playoffs.
He was also running around media day getting some of the other young players to laugh and distracting them in their interviews showing he has not changed much since his clowning days in Indiana. Stephenson should fit right in with the culture the Lakers built last season with all the rookies roasting each other on social media to build chemistry because he seems to be one of the best comedians on all of basketball.
Lance is just one of the many veteran acquisitions that the Lakers signed this offseason. On his Instagram, he posted a photo of all of them (Stephenson, JaVale McGee, Michael Beasley, and Rajon Rondo) posed together and captioned it with a question, “Name this unit?”
LeBron immediately joined the conversation and deemed the group “MUD,” which seems unappealing at first but he finished off the comment by spelling out the acronym misunderstood, under-appreciated, determined. This is a creative way to name this group of notorious individuals who have been known to be knuckleheads in their other stops around the league.
This group all taking a picture together is symbolic of the two groups that the Lakers need to blend together this season. If the “MUD” veteran group can fit together with the young core to support their star LeBron, then this team will have a special season.