Not landing LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony — or any other big star from this past free agency class — won’t stop the Los Angeles Lakers from shooting for the stars. This is the way they’ve re-upped talent in the past and have no plans on stopping now as Mitch Kupchak, general manager of the Lakers, is confident this team, as-is and going forward, can land a marquee star.
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"Yet, Kupchak strongly said the Lakers will not change their approach in trying to swing big again in the 2015 offseason. Kobe Bryant, Julius Randle, Nick Young and Ryan Kelly are the lone players with guaranteed contracts that extend past the 2014-15 season, giving the Lakers with plenty of cap space next season to try to hit a home run.“We think with the franchise, the city, our fan base and the exposure here, we have a lot to offer,” Kupchak said. “We’ll get somebody. At some point in time we will.”"
There is some truth to Kupchak’s statement. At some point, the Lakers, whether next season or following Kobe Bryant’s retirement, will add a highly coveted player in free agency.
What may have changed from the past is the tier of that player. In the past there was a true fear that the best of the best would eventually join the Lakers — we saw it with Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol. Now it seems that feeling has waned, instead the Lakers could land a good but not great guy like Goran Dragic and Greg Monroe.
Regardless of the player, there are many who believe that day and age where the Lakers draw a big-name free agent is gone. Unlikely that is as they still possess an appeal majority teams in the NBA lack, we’ll find out soon enough with a pretty interesting batch of players set to be free agents next summer.
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