In the immediate aftermath of Kawhi Leonard choosing to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, his former teammate Danny Green announced that he would be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers on a two-year, $30 million deal.
Green brings a lot of things to the Lakers including lights-out shooting, great defense, and plenty of championship experience.
In his 10 years in the league, Green has been to the NBA Finals three times, winning two championships. During the 2018-19 NBA season of course, Green won his second ring with the Toronto Raptors who upset the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 Finals with a largely veteran team who had been through playoff wars.
“I think [championship experience] is very important, especially when you have a group of young guys,” Green recently noted during his conference call.
“In Toronto, we had a lot. This group here is a little different I think we have veterans on this roster but a lot of veterans that have not been there yet.”
Green, Leonard, and Serge Ibaka has all played in the NBA Finals before last season’s run with the Raptors. Additionally, both Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry had a ton of playoff experience themselves allowing Toronto to remain calm during the toughest moments.
However, Green may be selling the Lakers a little short as far as Finals experience goes. LeBron James, JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, DeMarcus Cousins, and Quinn Cook have all played on the biggest stage. Additionally, both Jared Dudley and Avery Bradley have played deep into the playoffs as well, which should serve the Lakers well come playoff time.
“I think championship experience is very important when it comes to playoff runs,” Green added. “Those are the experiences you need to succeed in those types of situations where you don’t get nervous because you’ve been there before.”
Throughout all of sports, it is very rare when a young team with little experience makes a championship run. Most teams go through trials and tribulations in multiple seasons before winning it all with different eras of Lakers success coming after some hard times.
This Lakers team has a chance to be very successful and perhaps bring the 17th championship banner to Staples Center. If and when they get to those last stages, they have a team full of players who have been on that stage and others who will be looking forward to making an impact.
