The 2019-2020 Los Angeles Lakers team feels special, something that hasn’t been the case in L.A. in a long time. The recent additions to the team this season, including Anthony Davis, Danny Green and Dwight Howard, have meshed extremely well on the court with LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, Rajon Rondo and Javale McGee.

More importantly, this team has become like a family in a short amount of time according to head coach Frank Vogel. In the wake of Kobe Bryant’s passing, Vogel said that the team is aiming to represent what Kobe is about and what he stood for. And right now, the Lakers sit atop the Western Conference over halfway through the season, and for the first time in several seasons in Los Angeles, the Lakers have been a team that would make Kobe proud.

Paul sees some similarities between this Laker team and his great Celtics teams, speaking of the off-court bond that was built during the season.

“There were a lot of things we did off the court. As you saw earlier in the show, you saw the Lakers out on the field, kicking the soccer ball. We had softball games. We did a number of things to keep that closeness, that family feel, that brotherly feel, and it wasn’t just about basketball all the time,” Pierce said.