Podcast: Lance Stephenson only works for the Lakers if he accepts an extremely minor role

The latest edition of the Locked on Lakers player season preview series will cover one of my least favorite subjects: Lance Stephenson. I just don’t get the addition to the roster. More on that, though, in a bit.

To discuss the topic, I welcome now friend of the show Jorge Sedano of ESPN Los Angeles. He has a new show coming out next Tuesday, so make sure to check that out.

Sedano is actually a fan of the move to sign Stephenson, so I invited him on to hopefully sell me on some of what Lance has to offer. He does to a certain extent, but with one huge condition. Again, more on that in a second.

As with all shows, I look back briefly on what got the player in question (in this case, Stephenson) to this point. His career might need its own documentary, in all honesty. It’s so crazy that he’s only been a consistently useful NBA player in one NBA city. Sedano actually offers up a theory on that near the end of the show.

In segment two, my back-and-forth with Sedano begins by, as per usual, looking at Stephenson in an individual construct. I’m still not on board, but Sedano does present some pros to having him on the roster.

The final segment has to do with his fit on the team. Before we get to any kind of details there, though, I outline the Lakers’ rotation (if LeBron is playing center — if he isn’t, there really aren’t any minutes for Lance). And here’s where that aforementioned condition comes into play: Stephenson only makes any sense whatsoever if he’s a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type player and he’s okay with accepting that role.

As soon as he presents any frustration and creates any issue whatsoever, he should be gone.

As always, this is just a tidbit of the full context given in the show. Listen to the full discussion below and please check out old episodes or guarantee you won’t miss any ever again by subscribing on iTunes.