JaVale McGee calls Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, Michael Beasley and himself ‘The Meme Team’

The Los Angeles Lakers signed LeBron James this summer, but their moves afterwards led to almost just as much buzz, and not for quite as positive reasons. That’s because — as you’re probably aware — the Lakers followed up James’ decision by gathering up an unpredictable crew of human meme generators like JaVale McGee, Rajon Rondo, Michael Beasley and Lance Stephenson.

And outside of how they will affect the Lakers’ playoff hopes, the only thing that’s been more hotly debated about that crew is what their nickname will be. MUD? The Suicide Squad?

No. It’s none of those. In a sit-down with Sam Alipour of of ESPN The Magazine, McGee himself acknowledged the best possible nickname for the Lakers’ new crew:

Pop quiz: What happens when you put Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, Michael Beasley and JaVale on a roster?

The Meme Team.

Oh. Yes. That’s right, McGee just used the nickname this fine website just so happens to have a t-shirt of that you can purchase. I’m not saying McGee is telling you to buy one of these shirts, but I’m not not saying that either.

It seems McGee is leaning into the jokes that people are going to make no matter what he does, although he told Alipour that he doesn’t think “The Meme Team” is going to only be known for negative reasons.

I’d binge-watch a reality show of that locker room.

I would too. It’s definitely gonna be hilarious. But all memes aren’t bad. There are some positive memes out there.

He’s right about that. There is a whole Twitter feed dedicated to positive memes, and Silver Screen and Roll even got in on the action Saturday morning:

Now THAT’S what I call a positive meme.

But I digress. McGee was also asked about the actual basketball merits of “The Meme Team” and the rest of the Lakers, and he thinks bringing so many big personalities together can pay off on the court as well.

This roster was designed in part as an answer to Golden State. They wanted guys who can create around LeBron and get under players’ skin. You know the Dubs. Will that help?

Definitely. If you look at all the guys we signed, they don’t care about anything other than getting wins. It’s definitely gonna be a show, but these guys are workers, grinders, and there’s gonna be some real fire lit under our asses out there.

If all of the unique personalities the Lakers have assembled can band together and rally around the collective doubt about how they fit, then maybe they can exceed expectations by becoming something bigger than the some of their parts.

Maybe they can become a truly cohesive and collective unit.

Maybe they can be a Meme Team.

You can buy your Meme Team shirts here. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.