Los Angeles Lakers: JaVale McGee compares current team chemistry to Golden State’s title teams

Los Angeles Lakers center JaVale McGee recently commented on how close the team is.

Over the course of the summer, the Los Angeles Lakers did not fool around. Despite missing out on Kawhi Leonard, the team acquired Anthony Davis and focused on adding a lot of depth around the talented big man.

Although the team looked solid on paper, nobody was too certain as to whether the pieces would click. Generally speaking, it usually takes until at least this point in the season for teams to start figuring it out. That is completely normal for most groups.

However, this 2019-20 Lakers team has defied logic. As of when this was written, the purple and gold are 22-3 and have been playing out of their minds.

Albeit the wins have been enjoyable, elements like talent only go so far at the end of the day. Yes, the team traded for Davis in the offseason and already had LeBron James aboard. It looked like a mighty dynamic duo but looks alone do not always mean a whole lot.

The 2019-20 Lakers, though, have lived up to the hype and some. It is worth noting that the squad still has not lost a single game away from Staples Center. Their lone “road” loss came against the Clippers on opening night.

The one-two punch of James and Davis has been every bit as electric as Jimi Hendrix was with a guitar nestled in his hands. Let alone those two, the rest of the Lakers have likewise been in sync up to this juncture. They have been that impressive.

Part of the reason the Lakers have been so successful seems to stem from the fact that they are having fun. Seeing things like a Dwight Howard trey the other day to go along with James connecting with Quinn Cook during a timeout on Sunday are signs of that. This current Lakers bunch is loose, and it is hard to not notice.

Of course, when the Golden State Warriors are taken into account, they are another group that has gotten a taste of what that is like. Prior to this season, Golden State enjoyed an incredible run and won some titles along the way.

Lakers’ big man JaVale McGee was with the Warriors for two years and won a pair of rings as a result. McGee recently recollected how close that Warriors group was and compared this current Lakers team to his old squad.

Via transcription from Corey Hansford of Lakers Nation (originally per Kyle Goon of The OC Register), McGee revealed that what has made L.A. a success so far is that there is a common goal in mind.

"“I feel like it’s a conglomerate of guys who really just know what we’re here for, and what’s going on,” he said recently. “And we haven’t won together. (The Warriors) were together for five, six years. So they had a habit. For this to be our first year, this is impressive.”"

McGee brings up a couple reasonable points in his comparison. First, in terms of the Warriors, he is correct in saying that their success was a by-product of that core being together for a decent chunk of time.

Conversely, the same cannot be said about the 2019-20 Lakers. The Lakers replaced Luke Walton and brought in a lot of new faces this season. On that note, nobody could have written the kind of script that has been produced thus far. Anyone who says otherwise is probably lying.

McGee referenced the fact that everyone “know[s] what we’re here for” and that is a good starting block. The Lakers yearn for another championship and their level of play suggests that everyone is on the same page.

One image from earlier in the season further proves how well everyone gets along. There was a fair stretch when guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope could not make the rock into the Pacific Ocean. At one point, cameras caught KCP and LeBron together at the end of a game, with the latter encouraging the struggling shooter instead of screaming at him or something.

That example validates how strong the Lakers are as a unit and their willingness to lift one another up. Certainly, anyone can have cold spells here and there, so to see that James took a moment to boost KCP’s spirits is worth noting.

Frankly, the Lakers’ extreme winning percentage may not last forever. Despite that possibility, the team is clearly very close with one another and even when adversity hits, it is likely going to bring them that much close together.

Things are just seamless for Los Angeles right now, and McGee’s comments regarding their common goal provide more than enough reason for hope.