Some players have “plans to give the Lakers serious consideration” in free agency next summer

The Los Angeles Lakers struggles in free agency have been well documented. The team has been turned down by star after star over the last several years, and didn’t even get a meeting with Kevin Durant before overpaying Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng in order to get capable veterans on the roster.

The purple and gold’s free agency winds could be starting to shift, however, at least if the latest report is to be believed. In Steve Delsohn of Outside the Lines’ magnum opus on the team’s recent struggles, tucked away are some small doses of hope from a few former Lakers.

Current Sacramento Kings small forward Matt Barnes told Delsohn that “one potential free agent told him of plans to give the Lakers serious consideration.”

We have no idea who the player might be (there are lots of NBA players!), but another former Laker, Carlos Boozer, told Delsohn “the chance to lead a team -- with Bryant now retired -- could be especially appealing to the egos of some leading free agents.”

There are not a ton of specifics here, because there is no indication of what level of player Barnes is talking about, but Boozer’s thoughts that stars might find the team more appealing now that they have a chance to take it over is interesting if nothing else.

All that being said, while rumormonger is fun, the Lakers signing a superstar next summer still shouldn’t be considered the most likely course of events. The team still has to figure out who is going to be in charge if Jim Buss doesn’t meet his self-imposed deadline to return the team to contention and actually steps down.

There is also the line of thought that the Lakers might be better off going with a slower and steadier rebuild around their young core of D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and more.

The Lakers will presumably have to sign a few players in free agency next summer, so Barnes and Boozer (which doubles as the name of a show about them running a law firm I would definitely watch) won’t be wrong, it just remains to be seen who ends up taking the Lakers’ money.

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