Lakers News: Latest on Free-Agency Plans, Magic Johnson and More
The Los Angeles Lakers have grand expectations this offseason.
While the last three or four years have served as a humbling experience for the organization, to its credit, the rebuild has gone well. Patience—something partially enforced through major free agents ignoring them—has helped the Lakers produce a strong younger core prepared to blossom, if not lure those free agents to town.
In fact, the Lakers seem so confident something big will happen this offseason Magic Johnson has seemingly put his job on the line:
This isn't the only time Johnson has made a bold proclamation lately, not with his telling Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times he would resign if the team keeps missing the playoffs.
But the list of guarantees has already started off on shaky ground, as the Lakers seemed like a possible landing spot for Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs. Instead, it came to light the Spurs shrugged off the Lakers, as well as the Western Conference as a whole, according to Sam Amick of USA Today.
Otherwise, Johnson has done fine since stepping in as president of basketball operations in 2017, landing Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma in the draft and winning 35 games, a major step in the right direction.
Based on the upswing, it's hard to imagine Johnson's job is in any real sort of jeopardy. Lakers' co-owner and governor Jeanie Buss made this clear enough while talking with ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk:
"In the young core and the new guys that we're adding, I have complete faith in our front office—no matter how they want to build the team, whether it's through trades or free agency, trades or through the draft—that they're going to build on the style of play that you saw throughout this year."
More than anything, it sounds like Buss wanted Johnson to instill a culture and lead the young core in the right direction, installing "a style of play." Call it a natural step in the process, with an identity more likely to lead to free agents coming to town, as the old sell of simply being the Lakers clearly wasn't enough.
Now Johnson, Buss and the rest have set their eyes on an easy target—Paul George.
Easy, because George grew up in the area and has always seemed destined to join the Lakers when the time is right, though the Indiana Pacers seemed to delay the process and shipped him to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Either way, George has the chance to join the Lakers this offseason and Sports Illustrated's Robin Lundberg got his hands on an apparently leaked voiceover the organization will use while trying to woo George:
"When you were just a kid
"In your room
Dreaming from Palmdale
"We were dreaming too.
"While you dreamt, we built—built for your arrival
"And while we dreamt, you built too
Becoming one of the world's greatest.
"Life's most powerful dream are the one we realize ourselves.
"The ones that turn us into legends.
That kid from Palmdale always knew it
Now the world will, too"
That's hardly the end of a pitch the Lakers will use to lure George, as billboards have started to pop up all over the city as well:
As Lakers fans have learned over the years, there is always a chance the plan goes awry. And indeed, Amick reported recently LeBron James' camp doesn't seem confident George will actually choose to leave the Thunder. Carmelo Anthony just opted back in, per Yahoo Sports' Shams Charania, assuring George he'd still be a part of a Big Three capable of competing for the playoffs.
Speaking of James, he's the obvious next step in any plan for the Lakers, the idea likely being land George and then take a step up the ladder. Easier said than done if George decides to avoid his so-called destiny and play elsewhere.
But the Lakers are accustomed to this sort of risk-reward to an offseason. The stakes might be higher after years of rebuilding, but a quality approach has left the organization much better off than before, and the future seems bright either way.
Credit the identity—it might not lure in free agents, but the idea is much more credible than it has been in the past.
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