How Would He Fit With Brooklyn Nets Stars Kevin Durant, James Harden And Kyrie Irving? Former Indiana Pacers And Los Angeles Lakers Star Lance Stephenson Worked Out In Front Of NBA Teams Friday
Lance Stephenson was a star for the Indiana Pacers in 2014.
The 40th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft averaged 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game for the Pacers in 2014.
They also made the Eastern Conference Finals that season (and the season prior).
Since that stellar year in 2014, he's had an up and down NBA career playing for the Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, Pacers again and most recently the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019.
At 30 years old he is still young enough to be playing in the NBA, but has not played since he was 28 years old during the 2019 season.
He did, however, play in the CBA in 2019-20.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! (see Tweet below), Stephenson held a workout on Friday morning in Las Vegas with representatives that were expected to be there from the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets.
Adam Zagoria of Forbes reported that the Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Bucks, 76ers and Nets were there. His article on Forbes can be read here and Tweet seen below.
Stephenson is from Brooklyn, New York, and has also played with superstars like Paul George on the Pacers and LeBron James on the Lakers.
Could he help Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden on the Nets?
At his age, he will probably never be the 2014 version of himself ever again, but that season proved what he could do playing next to a star at a high level.
In 2019 on the Lakers (playing with James) he was nowhere near as productive as in 2014, but he still averaged 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
The Lakers did not have Anthony Davis that season, but they still had James and Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and others.
Stephenson has proven in every stop of his career that he can be an all-around player no matter how ball dominant the other players are on the team.
The Nets are in a unique position where they have three of the most talented players to ever play the game of basketball, and Stephenson would not be expected to be a high-impact player if he were to join a contender like that.
The key thing is that he is someone who would know his role, and can find many ways to be productive; defense, rebounding, energy etc.
Usually around star players there needs to be the glue guys, and while the Nets have Bruce Brown, Nicolas Claxton and others, Stephenson could come in and be a guy who has already played in two Eastern Conference Finals (at a super high level) and bring a fan-favorite kind of energy.
The Nets should take a serious look at the former Pacers star.
