Best 2015 Free-Agent Stars for LA Lakers to Transition from Kobe Bryant Era

Kobe Bryant isn't going to be a part of the Los Angeles Lakers forever. 

Lately, he's seemed particularly mortal. After injuring his right shoulder on a dunk and playing out the rest of a Jan. 21 contest against the New Orleans Pelicans while predominately using his left hand, there's no guarantee he's going to stay healthy for the remainder of the 2014-15 campaign.

In fact, there's no telling when he'll return at all, since the Lakers announced that he had a torn rotator cuff on Thursday afternoon via an official press release (h/t Mike Trudell). 

All of a sudden, retirement seems like a distinct possibility at the end of the season, even though Bryant has one more year left on his enormous contract. As he told Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times four days before that shoulder injury, "I'd be lying if I said that it [retiring after this campaign] hasn't crossed my mind. Right now I doubt it…but anything's possible." 

More so than ever before, the Lakers have to think about the future—a future that isn't going to include the legendary shooting guard who's as much of a lock for the Hall of Fame as anyone has been. 

Nick Young, for example, has already started the recruiting pitches to players who will soon be marquee free agents. 

"I told Goran Dragic on the court, 'You might be my teammate next year.'" the swaggerific 2-guard explained to the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Medina. "I'll talk to Marc [Gasol]. Me and him are cool. Kevin Love, I’ll talk to him."

But those are only three of the five prominent free agents the Lakers should be preparing official pitches for. They have to find someone who can not only play with Bryant if he returns to the roster next season, but can also lead the charge during the first year of the post-Mamba era of Lakers basketball, whenever that may begin. 

LaMarcus Aldridge

Sam Forencich/Getty Images

Team: Portland Trail Blazers

Position: PF

Age: 29

2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 23.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.2 blocks, 22.4 PER

LaMarcus Aldridge will most likely be staying with the Portland Trail Blazers for at least a few more years, even though he's going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2014-15 campaign. Here's what Grantland's Zach Lowe said about the topic, though it's worth noting he was talking about the San Antonio Spurs stealing the elite power forward: 

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Let me be clear, my beloved Portland maniacs: I do not see this happening. Repeat: I do not see this happening. Aldridge isn't the type to say stuff lightly, so it meant a lot — to everyone — when he declared so emphatically in July that he would sign a new five-year contract this summer and hopefully go down as the 'best Blazer ever.'

It's always wise to take sunny public comments about free agency with a pile of salt, but Aldridge is a bit of a different cat in this regard.

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But what if he was willing to leave? We're operating in the Lakers' dream world here after all, and that gives them a shot at each of the league's biggest and best free agents. 

Thanks to the big man's development on the defensive end of the court—he's thrived while Terry Stotts has asked him to handle one-on-one situations in the paint, and that's helped key Rip City's defensive improvement—and him proving that his rebounding improvement is no fluke, Aldridge has become more well rounded than ever before. He's capable of thriving next to another superstar (see: Lillard, Damian), but he can also handle the heavy lifting. 

His mid-range shot is just about unblockable, and he can easily light up the scoreboard when it's falling with consistency. 

Chances are he won't leave Portland for a rebuilding team like the Lakers. But there's always a possibility the Tinseltown residents could throw a lot of money at him and appeal to the extra endorsement opportunities he'd receive as the future face of the franchise. 

Chance of Luring Aldridge: 5 percent (odds are slim to none)

Goran Dragic

USA TODAY Sports

Team: Phoenix Suns

Position: PG/SG

Age: 28

2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 17.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.1 blocks, 17.9 PER

Goran Dragic hasn't been quite as impressive in 2014-15 as he was last year. Surrounded by a healthy Eric Bledsoe and a newly arrived Isaiah Thomas, he hasn't been able to dominate the rock like he did during his breakout campaign, and that prevents him from displaying the full extent of his slithering offense. 

But put him on the Lakers, and he'd have a chance to shine once more. 

The biggest reason the Phoenix Suns remained in the playoff hunt throughout the 2013-14 campaign was this particular combo guard. His ability to serve as a one-man fast break and weave his way through any number of defenders in the half-court set all while fighting through the wear and tear of the 82-game grind was phenomenal. 

Pairing him with a declining Kobe Bryant would be great for Los Angeles' present, but it's the future that would be even more exciting. After all, we've seen just how good an offense can look when he's serving as the clear-cut No. 1 player, and the team would be able to surround him with quality defenders and complementary floor spacers who can create more dribbling lanes for him. 

As Kelly Dwyer writes for Yahoo Sports, however, there's not even a guarantee that this 28-year-old will become available during the summer:

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Dragic is technically under contract next season, but he will most certainly use his player option and opt out of the final year of his deal, a year that stands to pay him a below-market mark of $7.5 million. If the Suns miss the playoffs and Goran deduces that the team’s approach with Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas isn’t working, there is a chance (however slight) that he could decide to start all over. Decide to ink a one-year deal somewhere and await the increased NBA salary cap slated to hit in 2016.

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But if he does decide to leave the desert, expect to see the Lakers and the Houston Rockets battling it out for his services. 

Chance of Luring Dragic: 45 percent (solid odds if he opts out)

Marc Gasol

USA TODAY Sports

Team: Memphis Grizzlies

Position: C

Age: 29

2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 19.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.7 blocks, 22.7 PER

There's no better building block available to the Lakers. Marc Gasol is a complete game-changer on both ends of the court.

He can alter the fortunes of an offense even without scoring, as his passing out of the pinch post and from the blocks is just about as good as it gets, and his on- and off-ball screens fall into the same category. This year, he's even proving himself as a scorer, just for good measure. And on the other end of the court, he's a former Defensive Player of the Year who can serve as the unquestioned anchor of a point-preventing unit. 

"Bryant smiled when offering a 'no comment' on whether he will recruit Marc Gasol to join the Lakers," Marc Medina reported for the Los Angeles Daily News at the beginning of 2015. "Or if Bryant would ask Pau Gasol to intervene as a third party."

The Lakers may be remaining silent about that free-agency pursuit, but head coach Byron Scott may already be doing some recruiting. On that same day, he told reporters, "He's the best center, I think, in basketball right now. To me, it's not close."

Something tells me that most coaches would love to have the best center in the league on their squad.

Interestingly enough, the Lakers already had access to this Gasol brother once upon a time. But they traded him to the Memphis Grizzlies for his older sibling, who helped deliver two titles to the Staples Center before eventually departing for the Chicago Bulls.

Having the little brother come full circle would be rather nice for the Lake Show.  

Chance of Luring Gasol: 20 percent (unlikely but possible) 

Kevin Love

USA TODAY Sports

Team: Cleveland Cavaliers

Position: PF

Age: 26

2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 17.7 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.5 blocks, 19.2 PER

Kevin Love was born in Santa Monica, and though he grew up in Oregon, he's still a California boy at heart. He went back to UCLA for his college days, and that's already led to unending speculation that he'll eventually return to his hometown squad and don the purple-and-gold uniforms. 

Of course, it helps that Love has been a poor fit for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season. His touches around the basket are down, he hasn't been as involved on the offensive glass and he hasn't been able to play joyful basketball while functioning as part of a chemistry experiment that most certainly isn't succeeding quite yet. 

But will Love opt out and give the Lakers a shot at signing him? We have no idea. 

"But watch out for Love," Sam Smith wrote for Bulls.com in November. "Indications are he will seriously consider the opt out and has his eyes on a return to Los Angeles, where he attended college and where the Lakers long have had him on their free-agent wish list." 

And then in January, the power forward himself told Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group, "I think that we will figure it out here, so I don't plan on opting out or any of that. I plan on being here. As far as leaving my options open, I mean sure, it's always there. At the end of the day, it's always good to have something but no, I plan on being here."

Everything depends on just how well the Cavaliers rebound after their tough start. If Love doesn't think there's championship potential in Ohio, he may very well depart for a bigger market and a state that will be eager to welcome him back with open arms. And why wouldn't the Lakers want him to do exactly that? 

Say what you will about Love's fit with the Cavs.

If he proved anything during his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves, it's that he's capable of posting monstrous numbers and single-handedly turning a struggling outfit into a fairly competitive unit. The injury-prone and talent-deprived Wolves wouldn't have been anywhere close to playoff contention without him on the roster. 

Chance of Luring Love: 20 percent (unlikely but possible)  

Rajon Rondo

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

Team: Dallas Mavericks

Position: PG

Age: 28

2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 9.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 9.4 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.1 blocks, 14.3 PER

"No way," Bryant said when asked if he was going to stop recruiting Rajon Rondo now that the point guard had been traded to a competitive team, per Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. "I'm not done. I'm not stopping until he signs an extension."

The dynamic floor general will hit the open market this offseason, and the Lakers will have a solid chance of turning him into a one-year rental for the Dallas Mavericks. If Rondo somehow wins a championship with the Mavs, that pursuit will be a fruitless one, but an early playoff exit could make him amenable to another change of location. 

Rondo and Bryant have always shared similar mentalities. They've met for much-publicized meals and referred to each other as the same expletive, albeit in a cordial manner. Plus, we can't forget about the quote Bryant delivered about the then-Boston Celtics 1-guard in 2013, via ESPN Boston's Jackie MacMullan:

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You don't want Rondo? Send him my way. I love everything about him. Everything. I love his attitude, I love his chippiness, his edge, his intellect, his know-it-allness. All of it. That's what makes championship players.

What guard have you seen at his size that will get you 18 assists, 17 boards and 20 points all in one game? That's unheard of. I love that kid. I always make a point of talking to him during All-Star [Weekend]. He's one of my favorites.

"

Rondo and Bryant should be a great fit on the court and in the locker room.

But even more importantly, the point guard has a knack for upping the level of play from his teammates, and the Lakers desperately need that as they seek out more talent. Until they find more stars, having a player like Rondo is highly beneficial, and it's not as though his value goes away when he's joined by other marquee players. 

Chance of Luring Rondo: 30 percent (there's a distinct chance) 

Note: All stats, unless otherwise indicated, come from Basketball-Reference.com and are current heading into Jan. 22's games.