Lakers are ultimately hurting themselves with superstar chase
By Keith Rivas
It’s unfortunate, but the Lakers might’ve bitten off more than they can chew.
Alright, so the summer of the Los Angeles Lakers and their return to greatness is still to be determined. It could be this summer, with all of the draft noise that they made, or it could be next year when they try to land two superstars.
All of that being considered, the reality is that this is not what will get the Lakers back on top. Instead, Los Angeles is heading for a point in time where it risks losing some of their fan base.
On the one hand, the organization has been building a young core that they want to grow into a contender. Making moves like drafting Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball are good for that mindset, however the free agent market might be where there’s an issue.
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A report from ClutchPoints observes that if the Lakers are able to get the attention of LeBron James, what they may have to do next is pursue Russell Westbrook. That creates two immediate problems for the Lakers that may not be fixable.
First, that may jeopardize their easy shot at Paul George, especially if they sign LeBron James first and that’s what he asks the front office for. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but you’d have fans wonder what all of that hype was for in the first place when talking about George coming home.
Second, you run into a Lonzo Ball issue. Assuming that his first year isn’t the best rookie season of all-time, the Lakers will have a serious decision to make.
If they were to have strong interest from Westbrook and the desire to play with Westbrook from James, they may have to resort to benching Lonzo. Either that, or one of those two would have to move to shooting guard, and it’s doubtful Lonzo would want to make that move.
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In any case, while it’s wonderful to see the Lakers really do their best to get the big names in basketball, it’s doing plenty damage and the drama is just getting started.