Lakers News: Latest on LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Free-Agent Visits

Tuesday and Wednesday were big days for the Los Angeles Lakers. It also looks like they were pretty unfruitful days for the team.

According to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers had meetings with LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe. The team's interest in all three made sense, as getting a big man in free agency became the team's priority after it passed on Duke center Jahlil Okafor to draft Ohio State guard D'Angelo Russell. 

The only thing is, it looks like the big men are passing on the Lakers.

Per Bresnahan, "Aldridge will not sign with the Lakers because he was unimpressed by their Tuesday night presentation, according to a person familiar with the situation," while noting that Aldridge was "turned off by the lack of analytics on the basketball side of their pitch, the person added."

As for Jordan, well, he "found the Lakers' pitch to be 'somewhat underwhelming,' according to a person familiar with the situation," according to Bresnahan.

Chris Mannix of SI.com has more on Jordan's meeting:

Of course, if Jordan stays in Los Angeles, it's hard to imagine he would sign with the team that didn't make the playoffs over the one that did. Leaving the Los Angeles Clippers for the Lakers would be a somewhat curious move, at least from a basketball perspective.

And Monroe?

He'll be playing basketball elsewhere, per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:

Monroe's decision to sign with Milwaukee certainly was symbolic of the Lakers losing some of their mystique and appeal, as Kevin Negandhi of ESPN alluded: 

Of course, the team's woes in free agency started before these three visits. Kevin Love was a player the Lakers were thought to have interest in signing, but he will be returning to Cleveland, as he announced in the Players Tribune, per Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders:

This was supposed to be a big summer for the Lakers. They lucked out by getting the No. 2 pick, selected the exciting Russell, are poised to get Julius Randle back and healthy for next year and had the cap space to make at least one huge splash in free agency. This was a summer about quickly rebuilding and getting back into the playoff picture in the Western Conference. 

But if that doesn't happen—and things aren't looking good—the Lakers could be in real trouble. Rebuilding through the draft could pose to be difficult, as the team's first-round selection next year is only top-three protected and will be owed to the Philadelphia 76ers if it falls outside of that top three, meaning the team may not be able to add another Russell-esque rookie for the 2016-17 season unless it is truly terrible this season. 

Of course, free agency is far from over, and the Lakers can still add an impact player or two. But it doesn't appear they'll be adding one of the elite big men on the market, and the decision to draft Russell over Okafor, at least for now, is looking a bit more questionable than it was only a few days ago.