Over the years, Lance Stephenson hasn't said much about his infamous ear-blow on LeBron James during the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals. Now that he and LeBron are teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers, however, he opened up about the incident in a new interview with theScore.
As Lance tells it, he was just trying to get under LeBron's skin—but he was rattled when he realized it wasn't working.
"I was really trying to get him mad, really trying to win the game, get him unfocused," Lance said. "And I was trying anything, and for you to do something to somebody and they don’t respond, they keep continuing playing hard, it's like: 'yo, how do I…' I was just trying to find stuff."
Lance signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the Lakers this summer. LeBron signed a four-year max deal.
"LeBron was such a good player, you know, I was trying to do anything to get him frustrated," Lance added. "It’s going to be different, being friends with LeBron, you know what I mean?"
During the interview, Lance also addressed the recent comments of Indiana Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard, who said Lance was "sometimes the best player on the other team."
"I felt hurt because they didn't explain to me what I didn't bring or what I did wrong," Lance said. "So when he said that, it hurt me. Now I see how you really feel about me. When I'm on that court, I don't feel like I would ever do anything to help the other team win. I'm bringing it every single night."
Last season, Stephenson, 27, averaged 22.6 minutes, 9.2 points, and 5.2 rebounds per game.
The full interview is available exclusively on theScore's mobile app.
