“Pretty humble group for coming off winning a championship and going to the Finals two years in a row,” Dunleavy said. “They like to joke around and have a good time, but when it gets down to doing work they’re serious, put the time in and you don’t always see that with teams.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams where guys come and go, show up five minutes before practice and leave right after. We have our best players here an hour and a half early and stay an hour and a half late. Quite honestly, that’s kind of new to me.”
“He has a lot left,” James said. “We wouldn’t have reached out to him if he didn’t have anything left. He has a high basketball IQ, he comes from a basketball pedigree family and over the course of his career, he just played winning basketball wherever he’s been, all the way back from going to high school, to going to Duke, to the teams he’s played with in the NBA. And he’s a great locker room guy too, just a true professional. So, it’s great to have him.”
“Gives us great shooting,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “Dunleavy over the last two years I think is shooting 52 percent on open shots. He’s a guy who can straight-line drive and then when he gets to the basket he’ll make a play or make a pass. Defensively he’s always in the right spots.
“I talked to Thibs about him. He’s an underrated defender because he’s a great team defender and whatever you do, he’s always going to be in the right spot or the right place. I just think when you’re playing with guys like Kyrie, Kevin and LeBron, you can get all those you want. If you can shoot the basketball, you can be very valuable.”