One of the biggest things Lance Stephenson was known for upon signing with the Los Angeles Lakers is his ability to get under the opponent’s skin. He is a big-time trash talker who will do whatever he can get the upper hand on whoever he is playing, but that isn’t only limited to games.
Trash-talking is a big part of practices as well, and the Lakers are no stranger to huge moments in that regard. Of course arguably the most memorable was Kobe Bryant’s ‘soft as Charmin’ criticism of his teammates. While matters aren’t that extreme these days, there is still plenty of talking and competition to go around at Lakers practice.
Stephenson spoke about the importance of trash-talking and listed the Lakers who were best at it, via the team’s Twitter account:
“Without trash talking, it’s a terrible practice without trash talking. JaVale is good at it, Rondo of course, LeBron do a little talking, J Hart talk a lot. We try to get Lonzo to start talking junk to people. He’s doing a good job at it a little bit. Other than that, I think I’m the biggest guy that talk junk.”
Listing himself as the biggest talker on the team shouldn’t come as a surprise and his teammates would likely agree with Lance on that point. Likewise, veterans JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo make sense as they have been known talkers throughout their careers.
Josh Hart being named is something of a surprise, though he is usually one of the first Lakers to say something on Twitter to a teammate.
The Lakers trying to get Lonzo Ball to trash talk is pretty funny to think about as that just isn’t in his nature. But Ball’s competitive spirit and desire to win is not something that’s necessarily been called into question, which could fuel animated conversations.
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