The Los Angeles Lakers front office has a very important summer coming up. Despite bringing in LeBron James in free agency last year, the season was a disappointment as they failed to make the playoffs.
Now all eyes will be on Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka to improve the team this offseason. There are multiple routes for the Lakers to potentially do so.
A number of big names will be available in free agency and of course there is always the possibility of a trade, particularly for Anthony Davis. Even if another big name doesn’t come, the Lakers could go all-in on their young core and sign other vets who could better fit with what the franchise needs.
Whatever the case may be, Kobe Bryant believes they can’t go wrong and told ESPN’s Mike Greenberg that the front office just has to be patient:
“I think it’s just a matter of being patient, right? Obviously they’ll make smart decisions. You have opportunities, pieces that you can trade, assets, things of that sort. Or, you can stay with the young guys who are extremely talented and have great upside, and let them develop. Either direction you go should be a good direction.”
Things really unraveled for the Lakers around the trade deadline with so many players unsure about their future with the team. Johnson and Pelinka have been focused about keeping their options open in order to land stars, but in the meantime, much of the current roster has no clue where they stand.
As Kobe said, the Lakers have a number of directions they could go with the assets they have including young players, draft picks and salary cap room. Bryant also championed trading the young core if it meant acquiring Davis.
What ultimately happens is anyone’s guess, but rushing into something because of the rough year they just had could result in an even worse reality for the Lakers.