The Lakers' present is so grim, their uncertain future looks glamorous
Kobe Bryant and Byron Scott figure to be in for a long season. (USATSI)Before now, who could've imagined a world in which a random Lakers victory on a Sunday night in November would be such a momentous event?
Such was LA's 107-92 triumph over the Charlotte Hornets, a franchise that goes by the same name as the one that traded Kobe Bryant to the Lakers 18 years ago. So much water under the bridge since then. The Hornets moved to New Orleans, were replaced by the Bobcats, who now have become the Hornets again. Hakuna matata!
The Lakers, meanwhile, have become the Bad News Bears; loveable, sympathetic losers.
As their Dwight Howard-Steve Nash experiment fizzled, a common refrain around the league was not to pity the Lakers, because they were still the Lakers. Then Howard left. Then Bryant's Achilles' tendon snapped. Then Nash broke down over and over, and finally this year at age 40, he went down for good.
So when it comes to this modern-day, sad-sack version of the Lakers, there are two key questions. Let's take them one at a time.
First, where is their next win coming from? Had Kobe & Co. not toppled the Hornets on Sunday night, ending the franchise's longest losing streak to start a season since starting 0-7 in 1957-58 in Minneapolis, there was a fairly good chance they would've been staring at 0-10 heading into a difficult three-game road trip in Atlanta, Houston and Dallas next week. At 0-13, how many more press-conference F-bombs could the world have endured from Bryant?
Second, how are they going to fix this? Alas, it isn't enough to just be the Lakers anymore.
In an interview with USA Today Sunday night, Bryant scoffed at the notion of demanding, or even consenting to a trade no matter how far south the Lakers' season goes. (Bryant, remember, has a no-trade clause.)
'It's not going to happen,' Bryant said. 'You go through the good times, you've got to go through the bad times.'
In today's NBA, where luxury taxes are up and tools for big-market dominance have dwindled, the truth is that precious few sensible landing spots exist for a 36-year-old Bryant and his $23.5 million salary this year and $25 million in 2015-16. In fact, the only scenario that remotely makes sense would be the New York Knicks -- and even that one is fraught with obstacles.
It's difficult to imagine the Lakers sending Bryant to New York unless they received the Knicks' best player, Carmelo Anthony, in return. Once Anthony becomes trade-eligible after re-signing for $124 million over five years in July, such a scenario would have some benefits for both parties.
For all his flaws, Anthony remains a top-10 player in the league if you're considering both ability and star power, and at six years younger than Bryant, he'd be a better magnet for future free agents as the Lakers go star-shopping in 2015 and '16. As for the Knicks, who aren't going anywhere this season with their current roster, who better to smooth the transition to the Phil Jackson-Derek Fisher regime than Bryant? Plus, Bryant's contract comes off the books two years earlier than Anthony's.
From the aforementioned 'not going to happen' department, Anthony, too, has a no-trade clause and has based the past three-plus years of his basketball life on getting to, and staying in, New York.
Thus, far more speculation among rival front-office execs has centered on the possibility that the Lakers would play out this abomination of a season, hope their first-round pick lands in the top five (and thus is protected from being routed to Phoenix as part of the ill-fated Nash trade) and make a run at another flawed but dynamic star: Rajon Rondo.
After logging only 68 games the past two seasons due to injury, Rondo, 28, is back with a vengeance. His dominant play has reminded everyone in Boston and beyond why he's one of the most unique talents in the league.
He also comes with a complicated psyche and contrarian tendencies, such that it's anybody's guess what Rondo will prioritize when he hits the unrestricted free-agent market in July: More money and security in Boston, where he'd be the centerpiece of the Celtics' desired return to prominence? Or a fresh start as the latest savior for Boston's cross-country rival, the Lakers?
It's folly to begin to guess what Rondo might do, but for the Lakers, there would be obvious benefits to carving out some of their 2016 cap room for Rondo in 2015. First, the extent to which such a play would financially hinder their pursuit of Kevin Durant will be mitigated by the expected jump in the 2016 cap as a result of the NBA's new $24 billion TV deal. From the viewpoint of LA's 2016 free-agent targets, having the moody but brilliant Rondo in the fold would answer the key question of who, exactly, they'd be signing up to play with.
Either way, the Lakers in their current state can only celebrate rare November victories with a wary eye toward the future. They still have their 16 championships, after all, and at least they didn't have to suffer through an equal number of losses to start the season.
The season, of course, is still young.
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