The President of LA is making purple & gold great again!
When Magic Johnson first took the Los Angeles Lakers President of Basketball Operations gig last February, he said his goal was to make the team a championship contender. With team owner, Jenny Buss, having to get rid of brother Jim and Mitch Kupchak last spring, Magic’s first plan has been to transition swing-man Brandon Ingram into a superstar.
The 19-year-old had a respectable freshman outing last season, averaging nearly 10 points a game – as well as showing signs of greatness for purple and gold fans during the second half of the season. Johnson soon drafted Lonzo Ball just last month, as the no. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft, which many began to speculate how he would mesh with Ingram.
Well, Magic has re-iterated multiple times that Lonzo will be the sole ball distributor and person to run an offense Luke Walton have envisioned. After getting rid of both D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young this summer, the team signed Lentavious Caldwell-Pope to an eye-raising deal.
Now everybody wanna play for the heat and the Lakers? Let's go back to being competitive and going at these peoples!
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) July 16, 2010
For the upcoming 2018 season, he’s expected to make $18 million alone, as they also have plans of adding Rajon Rondo to the team. However, agreeing to a deal with Caldwell-Pope last night, has positioned them as a direct landing spot for LeBron James next year.
Kentavious, who’s represented by the King’s Klutch Sports agency with Rich Paul, has been a player James has been longing to play with. On the court, Caldwell-Pope is a Lakers fan’s dream (great two-way player), with his ability to drop 15-to-20 points a night in the right offense.
However, his off-the-court and injury woes have hindered his career from fully taking off. At the moment, we’re sold on the team eventually landing LeBron James next summer.
Given his rumored rift with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, regarding the direction of the team, his eventual arrival to purple and gold could happen next summer.
Let's go lakers!
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 16, 2010
Paul George, who’s been linked to the Lake Show, stated yesterday in an interview with Sports Illustrated, that he’s not completely sold on leaving Russell Westbrook in OKC. So, he’ll take a wait-and-see approach on how to the two perform together in the post-season next May.
In our opinion, the team would be better thinking long term with George; but it’s kind of impossible to pass up on the King. LeBron’s name has also surprisingly come up with discussions surrounding the Spurs. We’re under the assumption that he’ll never play for an experienced coach.
So, playing for Luke Walton (an inexperienced coach by the way), should be an easier burden than having to answer to Gregg Popovich. We don’t expect the team to land both King James and PG-13, but it will be one or the other – most likely being the kid from Akron.
This is all speculation, but let us know if you think they should pursue LeBron or PG.
@russwest44 ur so gay lol
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 28, 2009