Jalen Rose believes Kevin Love and Rajon Rondo will go to the Lakers this summer

It wouldn’t be true free agency talk without having the Los Angeles Lakers linked up to the top players available.

It’s not too early to talk about NBA free agency, right?

It’s probably too early for the 16 teams that made the playoffs, but the other 14 teams need something to look forward to.

Yesterday, Jalen Rose had some big free agency predictions regarding two star players on The Grantland Basketball Hour. “Kevin Love will be one-and-done with the Cavs. I think he and Rajon Rondo will be Lakers next year. I think the Lakers gonna find a way to add both of those players,” Rose predicted.

While these are both bold predictions, they almost aren’t bold at all considering how often they are brought up. Love may have just gotten to Cleveland, but it looks like a relationship that just never got rolling. Yeah, the Cavaliers are 53-29 with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but it might not be all about winning for Love. He has seemed unhappy since the beginning with the Cavaliers, and things have never been perfect. Statistically, Love is still have a really, really good year with averages of 16.4 points (43 percent shooting) and 9.7 rebounds. However, those numbers probably seems incredibly insignificant after he just had a year in which he averaged an insane 26.1 points (46 percent shooting) and 12.5 rebounds.

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To be fair, Chris Bosh even warned Love of what this season would be like – and nobody has better insight on the situation than Bosh. Love is used to being the go-to guy for a team, and being phased out by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving isn’t doing him any good. Love is only 26 years old and should be spending his prime years in whatever way makes him happy. He has a player option after this season, and it’s fully expected for him to become a free agent. It would be interesting to see if he would still leave if the Cavaliers won the title this year. Love was born in California, went to school at UCLA and his dad played for the Los Angeles Lakers for a few seasons. Him in a Lakers jersey only seems right.

Rondo’s situation is kind of similar. Everything was supposed to be great after he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks this year. It looked like a solid fit for both parties, and it was a place where Rondo could contend for championships at. Surprisingly enough, that experiment hasn’t worked out at all, and it will probably never work. Sometimes pieces simply don’t fit, and Rondo was made for some other team’s puzzle – not the Mavericks.

Rondo is an unrestricted free agent and will be able to go wherever he wants. His elite point guard status has been taken away from him, and it will be interesting to see how team’s value him come free agency time. Rondo’s name has been linked to the Lakers for a long time now, and it is reported that the Lakers will be going after him hard this summer.

The Lakers are coming off their worst season in franchise history, but their slump might already be over. If they can keep their pick and make some big noise in free agency, the Lakers could make the playoffs as early as next year.

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