The Los Angeles Lakers currently have a training camp battle going on between Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr. and Kyle Kuzma for the starting power forward position, and that battle is something head coach Luke Walton said he was looking forward to going into the start of camp.
Randle was the starter last year with Nance backing him up, and while that seems likely to be the case again to start this season a lot can change from now until opening night on Oct. 19.
Despite them battling for a starting spot, Randle commented on his relationship with Nance saying that they help each other prepare for games.
“Larry is a great, great player, he’s really long so it makes him a great defender, he put a tremendous amount of work in this offseason, it’s always a tough matchup with L,” Randle said after Thursday’s practice. “But for both of us it honestly helps us prepare for the games, get ready for the games, we have that advantage having two 4s that can really go at it.”
Randle also added that the two are constantly pushing each other to be great.
“We’ve always pushed each other, whether it’s we know we’re about go in some 5-on-5 action and we look at each other and are like: ‘Let’s go.’ We know we are going to push each other and it’s an advantage.”
The duo are two of the longest-tenured Lakers players along with Jordan Clarkson, so they are taking it upon themselves to not only push each other but their other teammates as well.
While they won’t both start, each will play big roles for the Lakers this season. Both of them should benefit from having Lonzo Ball as their point guard, as Ball will get easy buckets for them at the rim.
After working out extremely hard to get in better shape this offseason Randle and Nance could be in for career years in both of their third full seasons in the league.
*Quotes compiled from Serena Winters and Matthew Moreno
