During his appearance on CBS Sports’ “All Things Covered” podcast, a two-time NBA champion J.R. Smith was asked: “Which one of your championship teams would win a head-to-head matchup?” Smith gave his credit to the 2019-20 Lakers over the 2015-16 Cavaliers and explained why, per Silver Screen and Roll:
“This is with no disrespect to nobody, but I just think the size that we have – the Lakers have – we just didn’t have in Cleveland. In Cleveland, we were more grittier, we played a little harder, we were much nastier defensively, but the size with this Lakers team with [Anthony Davis] and Dwight [Howard], and being able to change the lineups with Markieff [Morris], we just weren’t that versatile [in Cleveland]. We could play multiple different ways in L.A., but in Cleveland, we only had to play one way … I think the Lakers team was just too big,” Smith said.
The shooting guard signed with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent on 1 July of 2020 and reunited with former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James.
