Ever since LeBron James joined the Los Angeles Lakers, he has always held a players-only minicamp ahead of training camp. The idea of this camp is to bring the Lakers closer together and get them a head start on building chemistry and rapport for the season ahead.
Heading into this season, expectations are down after last season’s major disappointment that resulted in the Lakers’ failing to even qualify for the Play-In Tournament. There are also a number of new players on the roster, meaning team chemistry and cohesion will once again need to be built.
As such, this year’s annual minicamp will be extremely important and according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, James is finalizing that camp with San Diego as the likely destination over Las Vegas:
James is finalizing a destination to host the team’s annual minicamp prior to training camp, with San Diego being the likely landing space over Las Vegas, sources said. He’s hoping to build a better rapport with teammates before entering the 2022-23 season.
After last season’s veteran roster, the Lakers have gone in the opposite direction with young players such as Lonnie Walker IV, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones being brought in to surround LeBron, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Even the returning players such as Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson and Wenyen Gabriel didn’t get much time with all three stars, so chemistry is practically nonexistent.
The camp can also unearth some gems for the Lakers, as was the case last year. It was during this camp that then two-way player Reaves really stood out and the team would reward him by converting that deal into a standard contract. Reaves would go on to be one of the lone bright spots for the Lakers last season and now is expected to play a big role for the team this year.
Something like that happening again is unlikely, but it is a good chance for the Lakers to grow closer and begin the process of figuring out how they will best operate and find success this season.
James on board with Lakers’ offense running through Davis
New head coach Darvin Ham has his ideas on how to get the Lakers back on track this season and one of the things he plans to do within his offensive system is to have things run through avis.
Reportedly, LeBron is completely on board with this as well as he and the Lakers have long been trying to reduce his workload as he now enters his 20th NBA season. Davis undoubtedly has the talent to be the focal point of the offense and James can lean more into his playmaking and improved spot-up shooting.
If Davis embraces and thrives in an increased offensive role, both LeBron and the Lakers will be better for it.
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