Will the Lakers really attract multiple big names?
The premise for the Los Angeles Lakers to trade Clarkson or Randle or even Larry Nance Jr. is to open cap space, lure free agents and undergo a swift rebuild. Theoretically, this makes sense, especially considering that Paul George and LeBron James are two of the names tossed around, but are we sure that either George or LeBron are locks to join the Lakers?
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George’s desire to play in southern California is well noted. He grew up in Palmdale, CA, idolized Kobe Bryant despite being a fan of the Los Angeles Clippers and went to college at nearby Fresno State. The Lakers would love to bring George back to SoCal, but it’ll be difficult to have convince him to leave his current situation with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With the Thunder righting the ship and settling in their roles, George is in a situation to contend in the Western Conference playing next to Russell Westbrook (a budding partnership PG-13 recently spoke about) with a proactive front office. Would he really leave OKC to join a rebuilding Lakers team just to play at “home”?
The LeBron-to-Lakers talks have always seemed like a pipe dream, but him buying another house and searching for schools in LA haven’t cooled any rumors. LeBron will be a free agent this summer, but he seems very unlikely to consider the Lakers unless George and/or another star player are on the team, along with the young players continuing their improvement.
Given this much uncertainty, it doesn’t make sense to trade Clarkson and Randle in the hopes of signing free agents. The Lakers have swung and missed severely with recent free agents, so is the Magic Johnson effect that drastic? And would those win-now moves even result in deep postseason runs?