Kareem Abdul-Jabbar plans to ‘discuss a possible role’ with the Lakers

Since the Los Angeles Lakers hired Magic Johnson as their president of basketball operations, the team has shown relentless interest in bringing future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant back to the organization.

Johnson said on the radio Wednesday that Bryant is now back with the team in an unnamed (and seemingly unofficial) role to help them evaluate their own players, and with Bryant in the fold, it seems Johnson has set his sights on another Lakers great.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told Mark Medina of the Orange County Register that “Johnson and Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss have asked him to meet in a few weeks to discuss a possible role with the organization.”

Abdul-Jabbar has previously served as an assistant coach for the Lakers, although it would seem unlikely the 70-year-old would make his way back down to the bench now.

More realistically, the Lakers may just want the NBA’s all-time leading scorer around the franchise as someone whose brain players can pick, or as someone to come in and talk to the young players like he did last season. Abdul-Jabbar could also potentially just serve as someone for Johnson to bounce ideas off of, or maybe just a skyhook consultant for Ivica Zubac.

While Abdul-Jabbar didn’t reveal (and may not know) what type of role the Lakers have in mind for him, it’s still notable that the franchise is making such a concerted effort to have its former superstars around the team. The two stars of “Showtime” working in the front office may not have been expected, but it’s impossible to argue with the results that tandem got the first time around.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.