LaMarcus Aldridge will not be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to Mike Bresnahan. Aldridge reportedly didn't like the basketball fit in Los Angeles, and "didn't quite gel" with star Kobe Bryant, according to Bresnahan. The Lakers were Aldridge's first meeting in free agency.
LaMarcus Aldridge reportedly turned down the Lakers because they didn’t talk enough about basketball
The big man won’t be signing with LA.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Kobe spoke for about three minutes in the presentation, said he envisioned LaMarcus Aldridge working with him the same way Pau Gasol did.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) July 1, 2015 Aldridge’s agency, Wasserman Media Group, denied the report that Aldridge has ruled any team out.
.@aldridge_12 has not made any decisions yet. All reports to the contrary are false & he looks forward to sharing his plans soon.
— Wasserman Media Grp (@Wasserman) July 1, 2015 The Lakers' presentation reportedly focused too much on "outside opportunities" and not enough on basketball, according to Adrian Wojnarwoski of Yahoo! Sports. The Lakers went into the meeting with the hope of shedding enough salary cap space to lure both Aldridge and DeAndre Jordan, but it would have been impossible for both players to get max deals even if they traded everyone but Kobe Bryant and young players like D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle.
With Kevin Love re-signing in Cleveland and Aldridge reportedly favoring the San Antonio Spurs, the Lakers’ big plans in free agency might be foiled for a second straight year. Has Los Angeles as a market lost its appeal to superstars, or is this simply an issue of not having enough talent on the roster to win immediately?
Aldridge was also reportedly impressed by the Rockets' presentation:
Aldridge was floored in a good way by Houston's analytics, on-court projections in their presentation. Not so with the Lakers.
— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) July 1, 2015 Wojnarowski confirms the Blazers’ chances shouldn’t be discounted, either.
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