Jared Dudley: Lakers felt disrespected Paul George put himself on ‘same level’ as LeBron and AD

Among the several stories that developed in the NBA Bubble, the biggest story heading into it was the rivalry created by the two teams from Los Angeles, the Lakers and Clippers. Both teams were the favorites to win the championship and were the marquee game of both of the league’s opening nights, both at Staples Center and later in the summer in the NBA bubble.

The Clippers, for their part, did a lot to stir the pot in the market with billboards all over Los Angeles issuing their challenge to the Lakers and how the Clippers represented a grittier and more hard-scrabble Los Angeles. But while this bugged Lakers fans, this wasn’t what bothered the Lakers players, according to an excerpt from Jared Dudley’s new book, “Inside The NBA Bubble.”

Via Harrison Faigen of SB Nation

But we think it’s disrespectful for Paul George, who hasn’t won, to put himself on the level of Bron and AD. This motivates us. When we see those guys around the compound, we don’t really kick it with them. The one exception of course is Markieff, whose twin brother, Marcus, is on the Clippers. This probably keeps tensions from boiling over.

It’s understandable for the Lakers to be protective over the legacy of their guys, but it wasn’t exactly wrong for George to put himself on the level of at least Anthony Davis, prior to last season. Now that Davis has proven to be a high-level contributor on a title team, the argument that George is on his level is a lot harder to make, so perhaps the Lakers were right to take issue with that when they did.

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