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Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press
The ambitions of the Los Angeles Lakers this summer are clear: make a big splash in the free agency and start competing for an NBA title. The captains' room is there, the new core is in place, the fan base is getting hungry by the second. The front office is betting their jobs in the summer of 2018, is not it?
Well, maybe it will take another summer. Here is the Lakers legend and current president of the Magic Johnson basketball operations team at a press conference on Tuesday featuring conscripts Moritz Wagner and Svi Mykhailiuk of 2018, by Bill Oram of The Athletic and Allen Sliwa from ESPN Los Angeles:
Bill Oram @billoram
"I am Magic Johnson," says Magic Johnson, who says there is "no pressure" on him to deliver starless agents.
"You know how many finals I've spent, so you think I'm worried about that, I played against Larry Bird in the final, I played nine finals."
Bill Oram @billoram
"If next summer no one comes and I'm still sitting here like that, then it's a failure."
Allen Sliwa @LakersTalkESPN
Interesting Magic Tricks … Give yourself two Summers time to return the Lakers …
"If I can not deliver, I will retire, she (Jeanie) must not fire me, I will move away." Https://t.co/Q0FPzPJxIA
Wagner and Mykhailiuk may have more opportunities than expected in 2018.
As the world expects Los Angeles to get at least one veteran star this season – the three names being the most talked about Paul GeorgeLeBron James and an unhappy Kawhi Leonard-Johnson acknowledges that he might not be in the cards. He agrees to retire after two years if nothing happens during this time, and he may very well need all this time, although it is not something that the Purple and Gold faithful will be happy to To hear after five years.
The Lakers leaders have already exceeded the deadlines (as noted by Oram), and Johnson has set another timetable for success that may not inspire confidence.
Jeff Haynes / Getty Images
Johnson could also bet that Kyle Kuzma's young core Lakers, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball could also be exciting enough to keep fans sated for another year, especially if they can sneak into the playoffs without significant veteran help.
Another reason why Johnson is covering a summer of '18, 'is that the three names to which the team is most often related are not yet free agents from Tuesday on. If the Lakers want Leonard, they will have to abandon a pack of young players and assets in an exchange with the San Antonio Spurs. Leonard's current contract expands until 2020, although he has a player option that he can invoke in 2019.
Signs might indicate that George has left the Indiana Pacers, but he still has to make a decision on a player 's option.
The same goes for James, who also has a player option this season and could stay in Cleveland. Ramona Shelburne reports ESPN.com that James has not decided yet whether he will take that option, which he has until Friday to do. She also notes that if James becomes a free agent, it has been long enough to know exactly what he wants:
"James could meet or talk with a club official or an owner at one point, but the elaborate presentations that have become commonplace in the free NBA agency over the years are useless after 15 seasons in the league.
If James becomes a free agent, league sources believe he and his agents Rich Paul and Mark Termini have a sufficient understanding of NBA issues and landscape to handle the process without too much fanfare. "
Jason Miller / Getty Images
James, 33, with 15 years of experience in the NBA, is knowledgeable and powerful enough to redefine the league according to his priorities: the championships and the family. Whether it's running a young core in Los Angeles or Philadelphia, or joining an MVP winner and a great playmaker in Houston, James knows what role he wants to play in a team and what's going on. He is still able to do after thousands of minutes in the league.
Hearing something like this could also make Johnson believe that James has already decided on the team he wants to join when he leaves Ohio.
And if the elaborate terrain is something that will extinguish the biggest star of the NBA, Lakers fans probably hope that he is on sabbatical media and away from the long, winding highways of Los Angeles.
Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images
According to ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk, the Lakers season ticket holder and lawyer Jacob Emrami have paid at least 40 billboards to go around Los Angeles prompting George to come home. The five-star star is from Palmdale, California, and that's why many believe that he could join the Lakers this summer.
Robin Lundberg of SI.com also reportedly got a script from a potential Lakers pitch to George's when he became a free agent. Here is part of the configuration and text, via Scooby Axson from SI.com:
"An apparent recruitment argument has been leaked to Robin Lundberg of SI.com and it is in the form of a voiceover that the Lakers plan to use with the video.
A person contacted for potentially auditioning for the voiceover has received instructions saying that she should be "less Morgan Freeman / Denzel Washington, and more Jamie Foxx."
By Axson, the lines of the field include: "When you were just a child / In your room / Dreaming Palmdale / We dreamed too," which makes him clear about George.
This is not the most ostentatious pitch idea, but it might seem a bit too shameful for some. Anyway, the poems and billboards are not meant for James, they are for George. If the Lakers can convince him to join the team, maybe James – or other free agents whose contracts are up over the next two summers-follow suit.
Johnson's deadline is not very long in the grand scheme of things, but Lakers fans hope that he does not use this whole calendar. They also dream of something: a big transport of free agent and championships.
The contractual information is courtesy of Spotrac.com
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