LeBron James is no longer surrounded by veterans that have been around the block a few times.
Now on the Lakers, the four-time NBA MVP is running with a bunch of young pups with a sprinkle of veteran role players. The goal is still to get to the NBA Finals, but this might be LeBron's toughest task yet. He may spend quite a bit of time mentoring all the wide-eyed potential stars on the Lakers roster.
But that's not something LeBron is worried about. In fact, his early observation is that the youngster want to learn.
"I think more importantly than what I need to share with the younger guys," LeBron told China's CCTV5 recently. "I think what a lot of people are missing is how hungry for knowledge that the young guys have."
"[Kyle Kuzma] and [Lonzo Ball] and Josh Hart, and Brandon Ingram, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, [Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk] and Moe Wagner, we have young guys that are extremely excited not only about playing the game, but also learning the game. That's going to help out even more because those guys are just hungry for knowledge, so I'm looking forward to that," LeBron said.
As for getting to a ninth straight NBA Finals, LeBron knows who he has to beat to achieve the goal.
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"That's the goal with the new team, young team. We're very new to each other," LeBron said. "That's the goal, but we know the road goes through Golden State. We understand that. The whole NBA understands that. But that is always the goal. Each year, you train and prepare to try to get to another NBA Finals, so that is my preparation."
The Warriors will see LeBron four times now that he's in the Pacific Division, rather than the two times when he was in the East. The two teams will meet on Christmas Day in Oakland, Jan. 21 in Los Angeles, Feb. 2 in Oakland and April 4 in Los Angeles.
