Tyson Chandler’s Move is Already Paying Off

LeBron James

Getty LeBron James pumps up his Lakers team.

Tyson Chandler just might be the MVP of the Los Angeles Lakers right now. The team was off to a slow start–surprising, given the team’s earth-shattering acquisition of basketball god and maybe-greatest-of-all-time LeBron James–seeming baffled on defense and showy (at best) on offense.

James was openly frustrated with the rocky start, giving an explicit warning that the young team did not want to test his patience for much longer as the team went 4-6 and ranked below teams that, well, don’t have LeBron James on their roster.

All of that changed this past week when the team acquired Tyson Chandler in a surprise move. And since then they’ve gone 3-0.

LeBron’s tone has noticeably changed.

Chandler secured the game-saving block last night in the final seconds of the Lakers showdown against the Atlanta Hawks. He’s proving his value quickly on a team that has been notorious for its poor defense so far this season, and LeBron is all about it.

“We both want exactly the same thing,” Chandler said of LeBron in his postgame interview. “And that’s to turn this historic franchise that has won over and over throughout the years and get it back to those type of days.”

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