Lakers news: Warriors ‘not threatened’ despite LeBron James’ arrival in the West
THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS still have some way to go to threaten the Golden State Warriors’ dominance of the Western Conference, despite LeBron James’ arrival in LA.
James signed a four-year $154m deal with the Lakers last night before being unveiled in the number 23 jersey in an image uploaded to the Lakers’ official Instagram account.
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka hailed the four-time MVP’s arrival in LA as ushering in a new era for the franchise.
"This is a historic moment," he said.
"It serves as the ultimate validation for what we are building here."
But, speaking on The Herd with Colin Cowherd this week, LA-based reporter Mark Medina claimed Golden State had no fear of meeting James before the NBA Finals – particularly playing with the Lakers’ current roster.
“The Warriors think it will be cool from a California dynamic, NorCal versus SoCal, there will be some exciting games,” Medina said.
“Even when the Lakers were going through their rebuild the last couple of years, they had a lot of respect for that young core.
“With that being said, it’s not like the Warriors feel threatened by them in any way in terms of how they would matchup the playoffs.
“The reality is the Warriors played a LeBron James team in June with the Cleveland Cavaliers and they did just fine, sweeping them in four games. They beat them in five games last year so it is a matter of they will take the team seriously.
“When you have LeBron James you have to do that but they still have a way to go to build the cast around him before they become a team that could threaten the Warriors in the West.”