Los Angeles Lakers: Other big-name free agents team must consider

If courting LeBron James and/or Paul George goes south, the Los Angeles Lakers should take a long, hard look at these other big-name free agents.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Los Angeles Lakers are not guaranteed either LeBron James or Paul George when 2018 NBA free agency begins. Both players could opt to re-sign or ink a deal elsewhere, regardless of how high their odds of coming to Hollywood appear at this moment.

If that happens, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka will have to activate Plan B. Right now, though, it’s unclear what the would entail. It could mean standing pat, signing a few one-year deals, and waiting until 2019 free agency to go on a spending spree. Or, it could mean simply turning their attention to other top talents set to hit the open market.

Why wait to see what the future holds, though? Instead, we could speculate on a few other big names the Lakers may take a liking to in the coming weeks.

Don’t be fooled by all of the hype surrounding the team’s pursuit of James and George. There’s plenty of worthy talent out there. With this Lakers squad already looking like a fringe playoff team this past season, it wouldn’t take two superstars to push them into postseason territory. Signing one of the guys on this list might even be enough to get the job done.

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So instead of focusing all of your time and energy on reading tea leaves from LeBron’s various social media accounts, join me in scouting out some other big-name free agent targets for the Lakers. The talent is out there if Magic is willing to widen his tunnel vision a bit.