Will L.A. Lakers Have Last Free-Agent Laugh After Quiet Summer?

While many an NBA franchise immersed themselves in this summer’s free-agency frenzy, the Los Angeles Lakers—long the standard-bearer for big signings and splashy trades—has remained ear-splittingly silent.

LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love: strikeouts all for L.A., leaving Kobe Bryant and company long on cap-clogging legacy money and short on near-term hope.

Then again, these are the Lakers we’re talking about. When you’ve won an NBA championship for every four years of your league’s existence, it’s hard for anyone to believe there isn’t some grand plan waiting in the wings.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, L.A.’s latest rebuilding effort could pivot on a pursuit of the dynamic backcourt tandem of Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, both of whom are coming off career years as the chief leaders of the Phoenix Suns.

Of the two, Bledsoe—currently locked in a stalemate with Suns management over the terms of a possible long-term extension—might be the easier get. Particularly if the Lakers are willing to forge a sign and trade along the lines of the five-year, $85 million tender Bledsoe has requested (per Stein).

That deal would most likely center around around Jordan Hill (whose $9 million team option for the 2015-16 season Phoenix would likely decline), a handful of draft picks or other cheap assets, and the expiring contract of Suns legend Steve Nash.

Dragic, meanwhile, has a $7 million player option of his own for 2015-16. Which, following a breakout performance punctuated by his winning the league’s Most Improved Player award, the Slovenian sensation is likely to decline, making him an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Matt York/Associated Press

At that point, L.A. would likely still have enough to offer Dragic something in the four-year, $56 million range, although doing so would leave them with scant spare cash with which to round out the roster.

If, however, the Lakers believe they have a better chance of reeling in both players next summer, Stein thinks they’re likely to strike out on Dragic:

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If Bledsoe signs the qualifier, furthermore, you can pretty much bank on him leaving Phoenix as soon as he gets the chance, because players don't take that sort of gamble and then bury the bad feelings months later to re-sign with the incumbent team. And that would naturally increase Dragic's leverage in the process, because Phoenix simply couldn't stomach losing its two most valuable players, who both happen to play what is routinely regarded as the most important position on the floor in the modern NBA.

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That is, unless both Dragic and Bledsoe believe theirs is an on-court chemistry worth keeping intact—even if it’s at the expense of Phoenix’s promising rebuilding project.

That was hardly the expectation heading into last season, of course, with many a pundit predicting the Suns to finish at or near the bottom of the Western Conference.

Forty-eight wins and near playoff coup later, Phoenix entered the offseason determined to keep its gourmet gestalt fully intact, however seemingly random the individual ingredients.

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

It’s a dynamic the Lakers—now two years into Jim Buss’ thus far fruitless rebuilding project—would love to co-opt.

Ironically, L.A. has a chance to benefit from the very factors Phoenix head coach Jeff Hornacek hinted might come back to haunt his team. From an April interview with NBA.com’s Jeff Caplan:

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The chemistry part is big. And our guys, we had 10 new guys, you never how that’s going to come together, they’ve gotten along pretty well. We emphasized in the beginning, you’re a bunch of new guys, you’re a lot of guys that have contracts that end this year or they end next year, so that’s always kind of a recipe for disaster when guys try to get individual, worried about their contracts. I told them stories about some of our guys from the past, that when you’re on a good team that’s when teams want you, that’s when they’ll pay bigger bucks if you’re on a good team...They’ve put it all aside and just played.

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The Suns knew they’d have to deal with the elephant in the room sooner or later. They just didn’t plan on it getting this ugly.

As Stein aptly notes, should Bledsoe sign the $3.7 qualifying offer and suit up for the Suns this season, he’ll almost certainly head for the hills next summer, where the Lakers are sure to be waiting with open arms.

That is, unless they heed the advice of one of Bledsoe's biggest supporters:

By contrast, unlike Phoenix, L.A. likely won’t be so beholden to notions of supposed market value.

Conventional wisdom has it the Lakers brass is content with standing pat this summer in lieu of more cap space a year from now. But as HoopsHabit’s Marcus Bass recently wrote, if you’re looking for a bellwether for L.A.’s motives, history always trumps hearsay:

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It’s not that Jim Buss and the Lakers organization are attempting to pull the wool over the league’s watchful eyes, they’re just hedging their bets. The deadline for Bledsoe to sign his qualifying offer with the Phoenix Suns isn’t until October first, and while Bledsoe may want a big pay day, he’ll most likely have to settle for a change of scenery.

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With Bryant limping to career twilight, the time is nigh for Buss to pull out any and every stop necessary to cobble together a contender. Even if his abilities have atrophied, Kobe's orbit is still strong enough to pull in pieces aplenty, so long as the future keystones are squarely in place.

Despite the slew of teams which, like the Suns, have adopted a more asset-oriented approach to building a contender, the Lakers aren’t about to mess with the formula that’s worked: Get the big names, the rest will take care of itself.

Winslow Townson/Associated Press

Whether or not Bledsoe actually meets the criteria of being a big name—the kind of cornerstone around which a franchise can comfortably build—is another question entirely.

Still, for a team with nothing in the way of a coherent blueprint in place, rolling the dice on Bledsoe’s brand of upside isn’t an altogether preposterous proposition.

If it winds up landing you Dragic a little later down the line, it might—with a few more subsequent moves—prove a championship one.