Which Lakers Will Walk?

There will be a victory parade held to celebrate the Lakers’ NBA Championship win tomorrow (June 17) in Los Angeles and then the team has to get down to business. The NBA draft begins June 25 and the Lakers have the 29th, 42nd and 59th picks, but the biggest decision will come with free agency, as Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Kobe Bryant are all free agents. July 1 Kobe can terminate the last two years of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. He will be 31 in August and averaged 32.4 points, 7.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds during the finals, on his way to his first Finals MVP award. A five-year, $135-million contract is the max for a player his age and if the Lakers let Kobe walk absolute chaos would ensue. Reserve Shannon Brown as well as forwards Odom and Ariza officially become unrestricted free agents that day. Recently there has been speculation that there might be room on the roster for both Ariza and Odom but it comes down to Lakers’ ownder Jerry Buss to decide.

Lakers’ General Manager Mitch Kupchak spoke to reporters while celebrating the team’s 15th championship saying, “I think we could be in position to advance to the Finals for the next three- four years. But this summer we’ll have some free-agent issues we’ll have to address.” Read the full article at the LATimes.com.

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