Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers continue to set their sights on this coming summer. Although that is true, the big market team may not spend every last penny they have right away.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ desire to pursue big names this upcoming summer is not necessarily breaking news. Team president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson, has publicly expressed that the franchise will make a valiant effort to obtain two stars once that time is reached.
Granted Los Angeles is not currently in the playoff picture, they have been a much more competitive ball club in 2017-2018 than in past campaigns. Assuming the trend sustains itself, that facet is one they can pitch to free agent targets.
The good thing about their heightened competitive spirit is that it directly pertains to basketball. Discussing hoops will be of greater interest than other elements that derive from the Southern California scene. Moreover, talking about the game is of greater importance than even certain components that solely relate to the Lakers.
Johnson recently touched on this in an interview with Spectrum SportsNet commentator Mike Bresnahan. Courtesy of what SB Nation’s Drew Garrison reproduced from the correspondence, Magic’s mindset is precise as follows.
"“It’s not the marketing, it’s not the branding, it’s about basketball and winning, and what I’m building here is a championship caliber team. And if you want to win, and you want guys to help you to win, we’ve got that.”"
It is clear that the Lakers’ future pitches will not encompass the fat. Rather, team executives intend to sink their teeth into the meat. In other words, the purple-and-gold will no longer focus on their array of banners, the Hollywood life, or anything of the sort. It is all about what is happening right now on the court.
Magic and co. already possess the ability to highlight games such as the road one against Philadelphia. Surely enough, while it is only one contest, the fact that the team fought for 48 minutes in a tight win is crucial. On the grounds that players like Brandon Ingram stood out from the crowd, the doors only open themselves that much further for conversation.
Thankfully, BI has had good games outside of the one in Philly. Since his increased aggression has caused these good games to become more of a regularity, it is fair to predict that he will be brought up at some point in a pitch.
Aspects along these lines should make any pitches a little easier this time around. Chipping in such tidbits would only add to the overall persuasiveness of the arguments, which is paramount.
In doing so, free agent ballplayers can start to imagine themselves in the action, as if they were playing with guys like Ingram.
One can also estimate that the 16-time champions will be able to shed light on their progress. That is unquestionable, for as was hinted at before, the Lakers have not been overrun this year a whole lot. Contrarily, they have kept it close more often than not, which is a huge plus in their favor.
Some may, therefore, think that luring two superstars to L.A. will be a breeze. Unfortunately, nothing is a guarantee at this stage. One cannot truly judge what a top talent such as Paul George will want to do in spite of the constant rumors.
Speaking of non-guarantees, Magic shared one in his interview with Bresnahan. Albeit the team plans to have enough cap space to pick up two legitimate stars, Johnson noted that the entirety of the resources may not be used immediately (via Harrison Faigen of Lakers Nation).
"“I feel really good about it. Now, we have cap space for probably two max guys, but that’s not to say we’ll use both of them. We want to if we can, but we have a Plan A and we have Plan B. Say we only get one of those guys, then we’ll make a decision on not to use the cap space. We can do that and save it for the class that’s coming the next year. We’re not going to give money away just because we have the cap space. I’m not about that. If the guy can’t really take our team to another level, and we see what Kyrie Irving has done for the Boston Celtics. Put him with that young talent the Celtics have, and they’ve taken off. We feel the same thing can happen for the Lakers. If we get the right free agent, that guy can take our young talent to a whole ‘nother level.”"
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Johnson’s thoughts indicate that the team plans to utilize discretion next summer. It is not to suggest that signing more than one player is out of reach. However, it is evident that Los Angeles does not want to duplicate past mistakes.
It is a double-edged sword because the Lakers’ fan base is perhaps the most demanding one in the NBA. Losing seasons are becoming tiresome, to put it mildly, and the internal ambition to control the Western Conference sooner than later burns brightly.
On the flip side of the coin, the team learned the hard way not too long back that lucrative deals are risky. Luol Deng’s presence alone validates that line of thinking.
In a nutshell, what can be extracted from this is that it is still going to take some time. As unpleasant words like “time” are, it is the reality.
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Nevertheless, the Los Angeles Lakers’ brass will go into next summer with the right mindset. Notwithstanding the cautionary disposition within the front office, they appear determined to improve the organization. Indeed, the future is unknown, yet it is difficult to be unoptimistic.