Michael Beasley: LeBron James, New-Look Lakers Will 'Come Together'

While some have questioned the players the Los Angeles Lakers have surrounded LeBron James with, one of the team's recent signings has optimism for the season ahead.

During his introductory conference call, 2008 No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley expressed little concern about how the pieces will fit with the new-look Lakers.

"I think it is going to come together like a basketball team," Beasley said. "You got [14] guys other than LeBron James that know how to play basketball, and I think you got 29 teams that [are] overlooking the fact that they know how to play basketball."

Los Angeles has surrounded James with a slew of veterans to complement a young core. Among the players added this offseason are Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and, most recently, Beasley. That's a mix of personalities that cause many to wonder what the locker room will be like.

Rondo has had his share of past run-ins with coaches and teammates. Stephenson has employed no shortage of bizarre on-court tactics, though most of them were directed at James. And McGee's game has been a frequent target of "Shaqtin' a Fool."

And that's not even mentioning Lonzo Ball's father, LaVar. 

Beasley, though, isn't concerned about what the team chemistry will be like:

"For there to even be a narrative of the personalities in this room is judgment enough for me, and I don't want to be a part of that.

You being a critic doing your job, [if] everybody do their job and stop judging a lot of players—me mainly—you will figure out that guys like me, Nick Young, JR Smith and Lance Stephenson and guys like that know how to play basketball and win basketball games, know how to get along with others. It is nothing to do with my maturity."

Rondo (Boston Celtics, 2008) and McGee (Golden State Warriors, 2017 and 2018) are both NBA champions, while Stephenson has plenty of playoff experience.

As long as none of them get suspended for throwing soup at an assistant coach, James can probably figure out a way to make things work. If things go south, the Lakers will be able to move on from the likes of Beasley, Rondo, McGee or Stephenson, as they each signed one-year deals.