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Report: Los Angeles Lakers working to sign both LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan

By Cody Williams

March 4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) controls the ball against the defense of Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
March 4, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) controls the ball against the defense of Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan (6) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Los Angeles Lakers have been tied heavily to LaMarcus Aldridge, but they’re working to add DeAndre Jordan as well.

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The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t looking to wait around for several years and rebuild their franchise through the draft at the end of Kobe Bryant’s career. The way they are operating leading up to the start of NBA free agency makes it look as though they are going to make one last ditch effort to try and get Kobe another title before he calls it quits in the NBA.

Reports over the past week have linked the Lakers heavily to free agent power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, one of the top free agents on the market this summer. Aldridge is already going to reportedly be recruited by Kobe himself and some rumblings around the league have the Lakers as the frontrunners to sign the big man.

However, it appears that Aldridge isn’t the only huge frontcourt piece that they are looking to add in free agency. According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Lakers are working vigorously to try and clear enough cap space so that they could bring in both Aldridge and free agent center DeAndre Jordan:

Some investigation from CBA expert Larry Coon shows that the Lakers wouldn’t be able to sign both Aldridge and Jordan to max contracts while also keeping Bryant on the books, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t possibly persuade both free agent big men to take discounts to play with Kobe on his last legs and try to win a title in Los Angeles.

Because the Lakers won’t be able to give max deals to both players, that certainly lessens the likelihood that the organization will be able to ink both of them. That being said, it’s an ambitious attempt from the Lakers that would certainly vault them to contender status if it were to happen. A core four of Kobe, Aldridge, Jordan, and rookie D’Angelo Russell could make some serious noise, especially with a healthy Julius Randle contributing as well.

Regardless of if the Lakers are able to sign both Aldridge and Jordan this summer, it’s obvious that the front office is going to swing for the fences in free agency. If there’s a big name on the market that the Lakers have a realistic chance of signing, expect them to try and do just that.

H/T to ProBasketballTalk

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