The Los Angeles Lakers have been given the opportunity of a lifetime — a chance to meet with their top free agent target again after blowing their first sit down with LaMarcus Aldridge.
While it’s certainly no sure thing even though Aldridge is giving them a second chance, the Lakers must do everything in their power to wow the former Portland Trail Blazers big man.
The Lakers will get a second meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge today in Los Angeles, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 2, 2015
One source briefed on the Lakers second meeting with Aldridge told Yahoo Sports: “They want to see if they can get it right.”
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 2, 2015
The first time around, reports indicated that the Lakers focused too much on the aspects of joining their team away from the court. Aldridge, however, wanted to hear more about what their plans were for him on the court, which is part of why he left the initial meeting underwhelmed. There were also rumors that Kobe Bryant was to blame for Aldridge’s disappointment, but Bryant himself addressed those issues on Twitter.
At this point in time, it doesn’t appear a second meeting will do much to help the Lakers, who were quickly removed from the race after their first failure. Aldridge has already been impressed with other frontrunners such as the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns, which makes the Lakers an unlikely landing spot — even with two meetings instead of one.
We’ll see if the Lakers front office gets their act together the second time around, but it seems improbable that they’ll sway Aldridge. Then again, there is a reason he chose to meet with the purple and gold first…