The 2014-2015 Los Angeles Lakers are a patchwork team. Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin are playing on expiring contracts, Steve Nash will likely retire after this season, and Los Angeles has a team option on 2015-2016 for the re-signed Jordan Hill. Even Kobe Bryant isn’t in the Lakers’ long-term plans; there’s a very real possibility he hangs up his Nikes after next season. Only rookie Julius Randle and Nick Young will surely be with Los Angeles past 2016.
So the Lakers are in the embryonic stages of transition. After failing to lure a superstar free agent to Southern California the past two summers, there’s still no telling what LA will look like in the beginning of its post-Kobe era. But just because the Lakers have been mostly unsuccessful in free agency of late doesn’t mean they’re a less attractive destination.
Los Angeles is counting on that reality to re-build over the next couple years, and reportedly already has eyes for two star point guards. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Lakers plan to chase Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe of the Phoenix Suns in free agency next July.
The Lakers, for example, are just one team league sources say would likely make a hard run at both [Bledsoe and Dragic], based on the premise that the Suns couldn’t afford the cost of paying both at that point, theoretically making either Bledsoe or Dragic gettable.
We’ve chronicled Bledsoe’s ongoing contractual drama all offseason. Every day he goes unsigned, it appears more likely that his long-standing threat of playing the 2014-2015 on a qualifying offer will be far more than that.
That creates a huge dilemma for the Suns, obviously. If Bledsoe is willing take the considerable risk that comes with playing on a one-year deal, it goes without saying that his relationship with Phoenix will be severed irreparably. And should that prove the case, there’s a very real possibility that the upstart Suns could lose each engine of their surprising 2013-2014 success – Dragic will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, too.
Both players are in for huge paydays a year from now. In fact, it’s hardly out of the question that both Bledsoe and Dragic could command a maximum salary. The former held out for that offer this offseason, while the latter has firmly established himself as one of the best point guards in the world. It’s certainly possible, and perhaps even likely, that each player will improve in 2014-2015, too.
The Suns’ surplus of lead guards only increased over the summer. They stole Isaiah Thomas from the Sacramento Kings for pennies on the dollar, and selected Tyler Ennis in the first round of the NBA draft. Whether or not Phoenix made either move while considering the possibility of being forced to part with Bledsoe or Dragic is irrelevant now. Coach Jeff Hornacek will have a two-headed monster at point guard as long as the team hangs onto one of Bledsoe and Dragic.
That’s where the Lakers – and a host of other suitors, no doubt – come in. The Suns’ sudden uncertainty is no secret. The league knows where Phoenix stands with Bledsoe, and knows just as well that it will do all it can to retain Dragic in free agency. It was always likely that the Suns would lose either player at some point, but prevailing notions before the Bledsoe saga was that they’d be able to choose between he and Dragic.
But that’s not the case now. Bledsoe will play elsewhere in 2015-2016 barring a major surprise, and Dragic will be among the most highly sought-after free agents on the market next summer. If the Slovenian star is open to leaving Phoenix, the Suns could find themselves without both players come fall 2015.
The glitz and glamour of Hollywood will surely be attractive to both players, as would the chance to help lead the re-branded Lakers once Bryant retires. The Lakers will have ample cap space to sign Bledsoe/Dragic and another star, too. And if Los Angeles happens to pry Dragic from Phoenix, it would represent a dramatic shift of power from franchise to franchise.
Last season told us that the Suns were on the rise and the Lakers on decline. But so much of Phoenix’s success hinged on the unique scoring and playmaking prowess of Dragic. Thomas could approximate some of it in his absence, but not enough to keep the Suns afloat – let alone ascending – in the loaded Western Conference. Los Angeles, meanwhile, would gain the in-prime pillar it so obviously lacks by bringing Dragic aboard.
This is all conjecture for now, obviously. But the ripples of Bledsoe’s discontent are sweeping, and the demise of the Suns and rebirth of the Lakers is another that’s certainly possible.
What do you think?
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