The city of Los Angeles was able to garner some serious All-Star power this offseason with both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers successfully managing to shift the landscape of the NBA in their favor.
Aside from some of the obvious names that have come to town, Green is among the notable new additions to the Lakers revamped roster. Green has enjoyed plenty of success tagging alongside Kawhi Leonard in recent seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors.
He and Leonard finally parted ways this offseason and now find themselves on the opposite sides of a potential rivalry in Los Angeles. Green is admittedly looking forward to facing his old teammate in new colors:
“I think it’ll be a lot of fun. I think it’s a rivalry that’s growing back to where it was before. I think both teams are very good on paper,” Green said.
“We’ll have to see how it’s put together, and I think it’s going to hopefully grow into something that’s unbelievable for the fans to watch, and I’m excited about it. And you never know, these two teams in L.A. playing against each other and having a shot at winning might be interesting.”
Green’s comments are certainly understandable considering all that the pair accomplished together throughout their careers in San Antonio and the lone year in Toronto. Their status as former teammates should provide another notable storyline in what is shaping up to be perhaps the NBA’s most intriguing matchup moving forward.
It is no secret the Lakers have always held the upper hand when it comes to selling the perks of playing in Los Angeles and they finally managed to solidify that notion by reeling in two All-Star players in consecutive offseasons to form arguably the NBA’s most formidable duo in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Of course, the Clippers made sure not to come away empty-handed this time around by forming a duo of their own in Leonard and Paul George.
Although this matchup will continue to be headlined by all the big names on both teams, it is the role players like Green that may wound up serving as the deciding factor in which team is able to stake their claim as the top dog in the rivalry.
It will undoubtedly be interesting to see which of the two reigning champions and former teammates is able to potentially win another ring with their third team.