Lebron is a Laker!!!

The first and last time I wrote something about the Lakers was way back 10 years ago! And wouldn't you know it, the topic I wrote on was about the offseason moves made by the Kupchak-led front office in 2008.

Today, Kobe has been retired for 3 years already. But today, the best player in the NBA is a member of the Lakers! Lebron James part of the Purple and Gold. It's still so surreal for a hardcore fan like me to see something like this happen. Lakers fans all over the world suffered through several years of mediocrity and now we are finally back in the limelight.

However, the mighty Golden State Warriors still reign supreme in the NBA and they got even better with the addition of Demarcus Cousins. Lebron on the other hand will have to rely on the young guys Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Lonzo Ball. Together with them, an odd bunch of veterans will also try to help The King topple the Warriors. Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Javale McGee and Michael Beasley are all set to take on the challenge of bringing the Lakers back to their glory days.

A new era will begin this year and the Lakers faithful are excited to see their team get back to the Playoffs after their 6-year drought.

The Lakers Offseason So Far...

The Lakers' best dancer has now moved up to the northern part of California and is now a member of the Golden State Warriors. Whether Ronny Turiaf will continue his dance routines in the Bay area is still unknown as of now but one thing is for sure - we're gonna miss his crazy dance antics whenever the team gets rolling. His good blocking skills will also be missed but other than that, there is nothing in Ronny's game that's too impressive that would've warranted us to offer more than the reported fat 4-year $17million contract that the Warriors extended to Ronny.


Aside from Ronny, there's another vital part of the bench mob who still hasn't been re-upped to a new offer. So far, no other team has been interested in acquiring restricted free agent Sasha Vujacic's services. (or at least there are still no rumors floating around of offers made by other teams to him.) In any case, however, I'm pretty sure that Mitch Kupchak will do his job and get a deal done with 'The Machine's' agent Rob Pelinka, who is also Kobe and D'Fish's agent soon enough. The team is cautious as to not overpay role players like Vujacic like what they did a year ago by signing Walton to 6 years for more than $5million/year.

But with the current new trend of NBA players now opting to play in Europe for possibly more money (No tax and the increasing power of the Euro), the Lakers might just overpay the Machine a little bit if ever he gets an offer from a European team. I'm pretty sure the Lakers will get the Machine back and sign him to a reasonable contract.

Moving on to the starters. A major piece missing in the Lakers' championship aspirations is rumored to have been cleared to practice already. Andrew Bynum is back and the ball is on his side of the court to show the team that he has fully recovered from his knee surgery. Bynum's presence was badly missed by the Lakers as they were bullied from the inside by Perkins, Powe and, of course, KG during the Lakers-Celtics finals series. Many believe that Bynum's presence would've made a major impact on the outcome of that series. However, for the Lakers' sake, it's best that they move on from that Finals defeat and look forward to the next season for another crack at the Larry O'brien trophy. This time around, Bynum will be back and he will be paired up with Pau Gasol in the front court.

However, Bynum's future with the Lakers isn't very clear yet. Bynum's greedy agent has been asking the Lakers to offer his client the maximum money for his extension but the Lakers are still reluctant to give the young kid his raise until they actually see him play on the court without any sign or hint of any nagging pain in his newly fixed knees. If Bynum can bank in on his success in the early part of last season, there's no doubt that Kupchak will be extending him for the maximum.

Now on to another starter who has been making fans scratch their heads for his inconsistencies playing the game. Lamar Odom is a big question mark for the Lakers. There are actually two sides in the Odom debate. The first one sides with Odom staying on the team until at least the Trade deadline in February 2009. This side argues that they should first see how the front court of Bynum, Gasol and Odom could work out before deciding on what to actually do with Odom and his huge $14million expiring contract. The second faction in the Odom debate wants to ship his damn ass out of Tinseltown this offseason. They contend that Odom is just way too inconsistent to fit the bill of a starting SmallForward for the Lakers. They add that a conventional SmallForward would be a better fit for the team rather than Odom who is a 6'10" SF/PF/PG.

Those against Odom staying with the team until February '09 are riding high on trade rumors involving Artest and Deng. So far, the Artest rumors have fizzled down a bit but the Deng rumors are getting stronger recently. But make no mistake about it, the Lakers will not deal Odom unless Phil Jax ok's that deal and, of course, unless the other team accepts our low ball offers. Believe it or not, there are rumors that the Lakers are offering Farmar-Odom for Hinrich-Deng. That's how much the Lakers are low balling anyone who wants to trade with them. After Kupchak made the Gasol heist possible, the Lakers have been overly optimistic that they might pull another magic trick again along the road with another team. So you guys who wish Odom would be gone before next season, don't hold your breath guys.

On a final note, this offseason should be a very quiet one for the Lakers. Aside from minor signings, they are not expected to make impact trades as the team feels that they are still good enough to make it back to the finals and actually win it all especially because Bynum will be back in the thick of things when the season begins. The Lakers might also save their $5.6million midlevel exception for this year since most of the decent free agents have already been signed by other teams.

All in all, the Lakers standing pat for the offseason is actually a good move.