After Kawhi Leonard chose to leave the reigning champion Toronto Raptors to play for the Los Angeles Clippers, Danny Green almost immediately jumped ship as well to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming one of the team’s biggest signings in free agency.
Before picking them, Green had been very complimentary of what the Lakers had been building. He was one of the first to say that the Lakers have two superstars, meaning it would be dumb to not pick them. Now that he actually has a chance to play with them, he’s beyond excited about what that could mean for his game.
When asked about the decision-making process to sign with the Lakers, Green made it clear that it was not hard making that choice. Green basically says that the players they had — namely LeBron James and Anthony Davis — made the decision for him.
“It wasn’t very hard, man. LeBron and Anthony Davis are here. Obviously, when you’re with a winning team and you’ve won, you want to run it back if it’s possible. But that wasn’t going to happen,” Green said. “And even if it did happen, I don’t think they had room for me there. So you go to the next best team you think in the league is and that was here.”
“Just with the foundation, they only had three players on the roster at the time, but those three players are pretty damn good and you know with those three you can build something special.”
Green also talked about the confidence that having those types of All-Star level players can instill in him. He believes that the open opportunities he’ll get on account of the focus being so highly on James and Davis will improve his game a ton.
“It’s exciting, man. It gives you nothing but the ultimate confidence and belief in yourself and in your team,” Green said. “Knowing that you’re probably going to get some open looks and easy things coming your way because of how special they are. Having two superstars on your team is kind of hard to believe.”
“It’s like back to playing the game when you’re a kid again and just having that type of fun.”
Green clearly is happy about stepping onto the court with James and Davis and with the abilities that he has, it’s likely those two are happy about playing with him as well.