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At the age of 32. Danny Green has won two NBA championships: one with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and one with the Toronto Raptors last year. If he wins another with the Los Angeles Lakers this season, he’ll join Robert Horry and John Salley as the only players to win at least three championship rings with three different teams. It’s not exactly a star-studded list, but it would be a pretty cool accomplishment for Green, who was the No. 46 pick in 2009 NBA Draft.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Green wants to win a championship by any means necessary this season. In a recent interview with Spectrum SportsNet, Green said that the Lakers have to advantage of the opportunity they have with the collection of talent they have this year, even if that means playing in less-than-ideal circumstances:
“We just want to play basketball again. I think guys will just be excited whether it’s with fans or not. I think guys will just be excited to get back with their teams and play again ... I’m with you on that. I need fans, too. It would be very weird, but, you know, if we have to win a championship without fans, man, and it gives us the opportunity ... because we don’t know how much longer we have this group, or with these guys at this age, playing at the level that they’re playing at, and if it has to be without fans, guess what? I’ll take a ring without fans. If they say, ‘You want a ring or you want fans?’ — I’ll take the ring without fans.”
While it would be weird for the Lakers to play their first playoff game in seven years without the playoff atmosphere in Staples Center, Green’s absolutely right. There are six players on this year’s roster who are over 30 years old: Green, Rajon Rondo, Jared Dudley, Dwight Howard and LeBron James. For more than half of that group, their championship window is this year.
If there’s an opportunity for the NBA to resume play this season with the caveat that there would be no fans in the team’s arenas, the Lakers should welcome it with open arms.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow this author on Twitter at @RadRivas.