The first concrete free agency salvo targeted at LaMarcus Aldridge this summer might be fired by the Los Angeles Lakers. Mike Bresnahan, writing for the LA Times, reports that Mitch Kupchak and company are offering a pretty pennyto the Portland Trail Blazers star.
All their financial eggs now go into the big-man basket. They want to talk to LaMarcus Aldridge, he wants to listen, and if all goes well for both sides, the four-time All-Star signs a four-year, $80-million deal to be the Lakers' power forward.
Bresnahan offers ancillary reasons that Aldridge might be interested in the deal:
Aldridge already owns a home in Orange County, his initials are tailor-made for the Lakers, and it just so happens that his good plays were rewarded at Portland home games by an audio snippet of Randy Newman's "I Love L.