The Los Angeles Lakers have surprised everyone with their cohesion to start the year. Despite adding a superstar in Anthony Davis and losing several significant pieces of last year’s squad, the purple and gold came out of the gates hot, winning 17 of their first 20 games and matching the best start in franchise history.
According to JaVale McGee, that’s no coincidence as the starting center detailed that this is the closest team he’s ever been on despite all the new faces.
Following via Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll:
“We’re a team,” McGee said. “You see all the chemistry that we have on and off the court. By far this is the best — one through 15 — guys have gotten along and hung out together on and off the court in my career. It just shows on the court.”
McGee, a 12-year veteran who has played for six organizations, detailed how that has affected the team on the court, with no one afraid to call each other out for mistakes:
“I feel like one through 15 we have a lot of guys who don’t care if another guy tells them they did something wrong, which is a big part of a championship team: Everybody being held accountable,” McGee said.
“I’ve seen guys tell LeBron ‘you’ve got to do that.’ And LeBron doesn’t go ‘I’m a Hall-of-Famer,” McGee continued, adding that James instead accepts such feedback.
The Lakers were blown out by the Mavericks on Sunday (which came after McGee’s comments). It’s one of the few challenges the team has faced this year as they have mostly ran through bad teams with less talent in the early going of the season.
They have a chance to correct that against another western conference heavyweight – the Denver Nuggets – on Tuesday. If McGee’s comments are true, they will be ready to lead each other to a bounce back performance.
