Kevin Knox, Collin Sexton, More Rookies' 1st Reaction to LeBron Joining Lakers

Several NBA rookies commented on Thursday about how they felt when LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason.

Most notably, Cavs guard Collin Sexton said the following when asked by ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg what went through his mind when LeBron made the leap to L.A.: "Nothing. I just understood it was time for me and my teammates to step up. Make sure we're all good and then continue to work hard and get better."

With James out of the fold, Sexton has a chance to immediately become the face of the franchise along with Kevin Love in Cleveland.

While Sexton played it down the middle, New York Knicks forward Kevin Knox had a positive reaction to James heading to the West Coast: "For me, I was like, 'Yeah, get out of the East!' It was cool, though. L.A. is going to be fun again. You got a lot of young guys out there—LeBron's going to help them out, get to the playoffs. What a great city for him to go to, but I'm glad he's out of the East."

The Cavs have reached the NBA Finals in each of the past four seasons, but James' departure has opened the door for other teams to make a run.

Things are now tightened up even more in the Western Conference, though, and Utah Jazz guard Grayson Allen discussed that fact: "I was shocked and then I was like, 'Dang, so this is what the West looks like now?' I'm looking at the list of teams and it's like, 'OK, playoff team, playoff team, playoff team, playoff team, playoff team, playoff team.' You just keep going on and on. Every game will be a nice matchup for sure."

Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III, Allen's teammate at Duke, was also surprised by James' decision, while Phoenix Suns center and No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton said he "called" LeBron going to L.A.

The Lakers haven't reached the playoffs since 2012-13, but with James now in the fold, that drought seems likely to end in the highly competitive West.