There is a new regime at the top of the Los Angeles Lakers organization and the face of that regime is president of basketball operations Magic Johnson. Magic has already begun making his mark on the organization and he, along with general manager Rob Pelinka and head coach Luke Walton, is looking to return the franchise to glory.
On the court, the Lakers are far away from that, but have a number of intriguing young players. One of the more important, but least talked about, is power forward Larry Nance Jr., who has become a fan favorite thanks to his amazing athleticism and defensive ability.
With Magic in the fold, the young Lakers have a chance to learn from one of the greatest players of all-time. In an interview with Drew Ruiz of Slam Magazine, Nance spoke about what he would like to pick up from Johnson:
“Just how to win. We’ve had two rough years thus far and he’s a legend, you know? And he’s not one of the best Lakers to ever do it but the best players ever to put on an NBA uniform. You just want to pick his brain and his mindset going into games and what made him stand out from everyone else.”
Nance also noted the change in atmosphere around the team now, as players on the roster are looking to impress Magic:
“Yeah, you definitely want to go out there and show him what you got and that I’m an integral part of this going forward. Everyone’s out on the practice court busting their tails and in the games going as hard as they can. There’s another level of excitement around the team.”
Impressing both Johnson and Pelinka will be extremely important over the remainder of this season. Johnson recently said that all of the young players need to be more consistent with their play while Pelinka made no secret of his desire to bring in more talent to the team through free agency.
Nance, along with guys like D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Brandon Ingram have the opportunity to show the new Lakers regime what they can bring to the table and they must take advantage of that.
