Currently riding high on a three-game winning streak, the Los Angeles Lakers are currently sitting at 41-12 and in first place in the NBA’s Western Conference standings.
Led by LeBron James, the NBA’s league leader in assists (10.8 per game) and Anthony Davis who is in the top five in blocks (2.37 per), L.A.’s goal this year is obviously to win the NBA Finals.
Chemistry plays a big part in that process.
In between hosting an in-store fashion function at Neiman Marcus Michigan Avenue in Chicago during NBA All-Star Weekend, Lakers guard Troy Daniels told Heavy that the Lakers group text message chat has been a source of inspiration for Lakers players and has been a huge part in the team building its chemistry.
Troy Daniels Talks Lakers Chemistry & Group Message Thread
Los Angeles Lakers Guard Troy Daniels (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
Daniels spoke about a number of topics, but the growth of team chemistry for the Lakers was one noteworthy breakdown from the guard.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: I’m very fascinated with the Lakers’ chemistry in such a short time. What are your off days like?
Troy Daniels: Days off? Well the majority of the time that we spend together is on the road and we’re just as surprised as you guys as far as the chemistry goes, the way we interact with each other, obviously I knew Jared Dudley since I played in Phoenix in the past 2 years.
Then I can’t put my finger on it but I think it started with that group text when LeBron sent out in August or late July, he sent that text out – not a long or whatever text welcome, be ready to go whenever. It started right after that. It was a group chat and the group chat keeps us engaged, keeps us together even though on off days, and when guys say I’m somewhere everyone’s pulling up, or we do dinner on the road, or we’ll go out to a club somewhere like all together.
We’re like brothers and we tell each other about our personal type things and it’s fun. I have really never been a part of something like that.
Daniels went undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft out of the University of Virginia. After bouncing around the NBA while making stops with the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, and Charlotte Hornets, Daniels signed a one-year deal with Los Angeles this summer.
How Lakers Can Take Chemistry to Next Level
While it’s apparent the Lakers have seen their chemistry improve and grow throughout the 2019-20 NBA season, it’s obvious there’s still room for it to evolve even more. Daniels spoke about the team’s current outlook and how they can continue to get better as a whole.
Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: What’s missing to get to a grade of an ‘A’ in the chemistry department?
Troy Daniels: Like as far as chemistry on the court? I mean we’re there. I would say about a B-minus. Because you’ve got guys that really like – you got nicknames like: “Kuz”, “LeBron”, “AD”, “Rondo”… you’ve got these type of guys that their egos are really big so on the court it’s kind of hard to transfer that type of energy to like, ‘hey let’s all say forget it or like boom,’ not everybody is really not going to do that at the end of the day.
Maybe sometimes Kuz and Ron [Rondo] will butt heads, or maybe DG [Danny Green] and Ron will butt heads, or maybe AD [Anthony Davis] and somebody will butt heads, but at the end of the day, it all comes back to us being brothers and then we’ll figure it out. Which is weird because usually with a team it would drag on. I’ve been on plenty of teams and it’ll drag on for games and you’ll be like man c’mon man let’s get it together…but [here] you will literally snap out of it in the next five or six minutes…
And ‘Bron I’ve seen him plenty of times – he’ll get mad, and he’ll apologize right to you like right after that and say my apologies, I shouldn’t have done that, I apologize…You don’t get that all the time. I don’t think he did that early in his career, so it’s like a weird aura, like the chemistry and the bond we have with the team, I’m telling you it’s like one of a kind.
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Troy Daniels Details Major Impact of Lakers’ Group Chat on Chemistry