Bubble Blogs: J.R. Smith forgot to pack enough underwear

If you’ve ever traveled — be it for vacation, business or any other reason in between — chances are there has been a time when you forgot to pack enough of a certain clothing item. In that sense, newest Lakers signing J.R. Smith may have just had the most relatable moment of the NBA bubble so far.

Smith has been one of the breakout stars of the bubble already, from basically the moment he arrived at Disney World. In a candid interview with Allie Clifton of Spectrum SportsNet, he showed no signs of surrendering his crown:

Look, it’s easy to laugh about this, but I think it’s important we don’t laugh at J.R. here. After all, who among has not done this? I know I always forget to pack enough of something (underwear, shirts, whatever) for NBA Summer League in Las Vegas every year, so I’m certainly not going to cast the first soup stone.

I think rather than mocked, J.R. should be applauded for his honesty and integrity. Some would just try to order a couple bags of underwear on Amazon, but J.R. — clearly in the interest of safety — is instead trying to get Mickey Mouse to bring him some drawers. We respect a thrifty king, and it’s not the only time he’s tried to maintain bubble integrity by asking for something that wouldn’t require anyone or anything new to enter the NBA’s safe haven.

So J.R., we may not be able to help with the Madden issue, but we do have a lead on some underwear for you — and no, that is not a sentence I ever thought I’d type back when I was in journalism school.

You’re welcome.

Vlog Boys

JaVale McGee’s “Life in the Bubble” Vlog continues to be must-watch, and the latest episode was no exception in that respect. This one featured McGee and Quinn Cook crashing J.R. Smith’s media availability, McGee talking with his dad (who revealed that some fans thought he was Charles Barkley) and a few other funny moments:

The best parts of this episode were probably some of the aforementioned stuff, as well as JaVale and Dwight doing Shaq impressions to each other — continuing to bond by mocking the man they initially connected over wanting to fight at one point — as well as JaVale’s outfit of choice for breakfast one morning:

This whole thing has been such a fun look behind the scenes, and really allowed McGee’s personality to shine through in a way it’s rarely been able to during his two years in L.A. Hopefully he keeps these dispatches up throughout the title run.

The Return of the King

Part of the reason for the delay of this usually daily story is simply that there wasn’t a lot of content coming out of the bubble in the last day or so. Part of that may be simply because of how locked in the Lakers — and especially LeBron James — really are.

It’s safe to say that James speaks for all of us in how excited he clearly is that basketball is finally back.

Only a few more hours before the Lakers are back on our screens, playing actual, semi-competitive basketball. Congrats everyone. We made it.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.