The Los Angeles Lakers transformed themselves into a contender in the Western Conference this offseason thanks to the arrival of LeBron James and several veterans.

Michael Beasley, JaVale McGee, and Rajon Rondo are just three of the veterans that signed with the team during the summer, joining an already promising young core of the likes of Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma.

Another one of the new veterans that arrived at the Lakers alongside LeBron is Lance Stephenson, who already has an interesting history with the former Cleveland Cavaliers star.

With their well-documented history, nobody thought Stephenson and James would ever play on the same team one day, but that's exactly what happened this offseason.

Due to their past, many would have thought that LeBron would have vetoed having Lance at the Lakers.

However, the former Indiana Pacers star has revealed in a recent interview that it was the King himself that wanted him in Los Angeles.

Stephenson said, according to Dana Benbow of Indy Star: “Magic (Johnson) called me and he told me LeBron was interested, very interested in me."

Stephenson replied to Johnson, “Give me a few hours to make this decision.”

He said: “I decided to go there and, hopefully, we will win a lot of games and have fun."

Stephenson signed a one-year, $4.45 million deal with the Lakers back in July just one day before LeBron signed his four-year, $153.5 million contract with the franchise.

Stephenson averaged 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 82 games for the Pacers last season.

He was only able to take the team as far as the first round of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, where they were knocked out by LeBron's Cavaliers.

Stephenson will only have a year to impress LeBron if he wants to stay at the Lakers, otherwise is new relationship could be resorting itself back to old ways this time next year.

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