From the moment LeBron James announced that he would be joining the Los Angeles Lakers, it was guaranteed that the 2018-19 season would be headlined by the work of the franchise. Make no mistake, the Lakers aren’t likely to be the best team in the NBA (or even a full-fledged title contender) in year one of the LeBron era but, in short, the combination of the best player in the world and one of the league’s flagship franchises in a massive market was always going to produce fireworks.
However, head coach Luke Walton took things even further when discussing his expectations for the upcoming season, indicating that he believes the 2018-19 team will be facing “more noise” than any team he’s been a part of.
Luke Walton thinks this Lakers team will hear more "noise" than even the team he played on with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. "There's gonna be more noise than any of us have been through before," Walton said. "… I think this will be more because of the world we live in." pic.twitter.com/uOxU93nraL
— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) October 8, 2018
“We also talk about not listening to the external stuff,” Walton said, via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “There is going to be more noise than any one of us has ever been through before this season. And part of what our mission is, is to not let that noise affect us. To come in and work on what we feel we need to get done in our group, worry about ourselves, and that’s it.”
When asked to clarify his previous statement and compare the 2018-19 team to previous editions, Walton didn’t hesitate to double down and that is noteworthy considering his involvement as a player on teams headlined by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
“I think this is going to be more, only because of the world we live in,” Walton said. “I think the social media, and whatever you call all of that, is way bigger than when I played. So I think the general team will be very similar to the teams I played on here… but because of what we live in now and the media attention that is out there, there is more of that external noise.”
Walton’s point is well taken in that every aspect of NBA life is under the microscope at a different level than it was when he was a player in the early 2000’s. With that said, the Shaq-Kobe soap opera was documented from every angle and, considering their (very) public feuding, all kinds of attention was paid to that team that wouldn’t normally be associated with a pure sporting experience.
LeBron’s every move is chronicled and, with that as the backdrop, every game for the Lakers this season will be an event. Still, it is definitely interesting to hear someone like Walton discuss what he believes will be something of a traveling circus, even before it fully begins with the regular season.
