Los Angeles Lakers: Should The Kevin Durant Plan Change?

For the Los Angeles Lakers, the 2014-15 season has been a miserable one. The same could be said about the season for reigning MVP Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder after missing much of the season, and finally undergoing season-ending surgery this month.

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It’s an interesting happening. Not because there is any correlation between the two events, but because the Lakers and Durant will be linked for the next few years as the star player enters a free agent market in which Los Angeles will be a buyer.

As many know, Kevin Durant becomes a free agent at the end of the 2015-16 season. He hasn’t given a solid indication of what his approach will be to the frenzy, but the prudent thing for players to do has been to treat the process much like college recruiting (minus the under-the-table cash payments). If Durant follows suit, the odds of the Lakers sitting down with him are quite high.

For the Lakers, it’s widely expected their future plans (or at least Plan A) are focused on adding Kevin Durant as the successor to Kobe Bryant (whose massive contract coincidentally expires after next season). Mitch Kupchak and company have been steadfast in their belief that the way to turn the franchise around quick is to swing towards the A-list free agents. Outside of LeBron James, the biggest one they’ll have the opportunity to chase will be Durant.

However, in the aftermath of a setback regarding his injured foot, should the Lakers pass on the idea of going all-out for Kevin Durant?

The major reason against the plan is this: Kevin Durant is a 6’10” guy who is dealing with foot problems. There are horror stories about tall players who just couldn’t overcome chronic foot issues, which ended up costing them seasons in the long-run. Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas recently expressed concern about Durant’s injury, comparing it to Bill Walton‘s career-altering injury. Other tall players (Yao Ming comes to mind) have dealt with similar problems that they ultimately could not overcome.

The good news is that Durant is not a very similar player to either of those examples. He’s a few inches shorter than Walton, and is a dwarf compared to Yao. He also is relatively light given his size (240 pounds), and his game doesn’t rely on him out muscling people in order to succeed. In short, he should be able to stay light on his feet, easing the burden his injured foot has to bear.

From the Lakers perspective, this injury should not concern them at all. At least not right now.

The fact is that the Lakers cannot even speak with Kevin Durant until he becomes a free agent, which is over one year from now. In between that time, he will be playing one more season of basketball, somewhere.

The perk of not having Durant on their roster (if there ever was one) is that they can take a wait-and-see approach to how they want to alter their future plans. If he struggles to play, or even struggles when he plays, the team can toss those schematics in the trash and begin to plot a new course of action. If he returns to form, nothing changes.

Much like the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers’ rebuilding plan, they must be patient when it comes to their Kevin Durant plans.

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