Los Angeles Lakers: 5 reasons to go after Kyrie Irving this summer

2. Kyrie is a perfect building block to build upon when LeBron retires

There will eventually come a day when the immortal LeBron James will have to retire. That will be a very sad day watching one of the greats of the sport on and off the court bid a farewell to the game he dedicated his life to.

On that day the Lakers need to be prepared. The Lakers have learned that hard way with Kobe Bryant and the farewell tour. They need to prepare years in advance for LeBron’s retirement.

Landing Kyrie Irving would allow for the Lakers to have a bedrock on which to build upon for the long term future. At 27 years old, Kyrie has some of the best years of his career ahead of him, which is a scary proposition. In addition, his star power and likability amongst NBA stars would lead to numerous players wanting to play with him in the future.

Above all else, the Lakers need to learn from their previous mistakes. You cannot rest upon the brand recognition of the Los Angeles Lakers anymore to be enough to land superstars in free agency.

You need to have a plan long term for winning and doing whatever is necessary to reach the pinnacle again. With Kyrie and LeBron, the Lakers would have a short term and long term plan to win.