In the face of reports of discord within their organization, the Los Angeles Lakers are still working to turn things around. The team will have a ton of money to spend in free agency this offseason, and while early reports suggested they would not even get a meeting with top free agent Kevin Durant, the front office is looking to change that.
Marc Stein of ESPN reports the Lakers "have been working to try to persuade Durant and his representatives to have a face-to-face recruiting meeting after free agency starts at 12:01 a.m. on July 1."
It seems improbable Durant will change his mind and give them a meeting, because the Lakers need him a lot more than he needs them at this point in his career. Durant wants to win now, and while the Lakers' promising young core and gobs of cap space might give him a great shot to rack up victories at a rapid clip a few years from now, that future is no sure thing.
Durant is surely looking for a more certain chance of contention, which is why even if the Lakers got a meeting with him, he was always incredibly unlikely to sign. Reports of dysfunction within the organization and uncertainty over who will actually lead the team next summer are unlikely to change that.
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