Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is not one to hold anything back when talking to the media. Cuban always speaks his mind regardless of what fines might be coming his way from the NBA.
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On Tuesday, Cuban made an appearance on The Beast 980 with Fred Rogan and talked the current state of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise:
“As far as the Lakers go, I think there are going to be a lot of teams that are saying, ‘I’ve got a ton of cap room,’ and signing three big free agents to come play for them. Los Angeles has always been considered a destination city, so maybe they feel that’s a valid strategy. You know me, Fred. Personally, I just hope they suck forever.”
With the Lakers currently sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference with a 1-9 record, there’s no telling when or if they’ll be able to turn it around this season. The West is as competitive as it has ever been with talented young teams from top to bottom.
At this point in time, Kobe Bryant is doing all he can to keep this team competitive averaging a league-high 27.3 points per game at 36-years-old. Many believe Kobe could be part of the problem in Los Angeles with the enormous amount of shots he’s taking on a nightly basis, but a case could be made that he’s forced to do so with the lack of talent around the superstar.
As for bringing in other stars in the near future, the Lakers brass will likely make an effort to do so before the NBA trade deadline in February and next summer in free agency. With few valuable trade assets, making deals before the deadline could be difficult, but there will be a few viable options this summer.
Rajon Rondo, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe will be arguably the most desirable unrestricted free agents available come July.
[divide]Kobe, ‘Things Go Good, It’s Us. Things Go Bad, It’s Me’