If there was one thing that the Los Angeles Lakers could hang their hat on as much as any team in the league, aside from the two most dominant players on one team, their team chemistry was among the biggest things in their favor during the regular season. And if there is some way for the season to resume, that chemistry will likely be another key factor in whether they’re able to win the 17th championship in Lakers history.
James discussed a variety of things with reports on a Zoom conference call on Wednesday night, including how he has been looking back on what the Lakers have accomplished so far this season. Among those was the Lakers team chemistry, which he said is something he did not expect to form as quickly as it did, as transcribed by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“I can have some satisfaction on what our team has been able to do this year, having a first-year coach, first-year system, a whole new coaching staff, bringing on so many new pieces to our team this year,” James said. “Doing the things that I honestly — like I told you guys all year — I honestly didn’t think that we would be able to come together as fast as we did. I thought it would take us a lot longer than it did. But I was wrong. I was very wrong about that.”
Even though James may not believe they had anything to do with it, there were little differences in the approach to this season and LeBron’s first in L.A. Prior to training camp, James and Anthony Davis organized a player’s only trip to Las Vegas where they could work out and get to know each other. The Lakers were also loaded with veterans up and down the roster, which has historically been the way of LeBron’s best teams, creating a team chemistry that was arguably the best in the league.
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