Article Published by: forbes

We are just a few days away from the close of NBA Finals business. About two weeks away from the NBA Draft and three weeks before free agency begins.

Spoiler alert: the Los Angeles Lakers are coming away with a win this summer

With the Warriors up 2-0 in the finals, we are at the nadir of the NBA transaction phase. Fans are left to enjoy the remaining games and simply speculate who will move in the offseason.

The Lakers have rebounded after a long rebuild and are again seen as a great destination for free agents. This particular offseason seems primed for one blockbuster move after another, and L.A. is situated perfectly at the epicenter.

For Los Angeles, there are myriad ways the next couple of months could unfold. With the apogee of delight being a LeBron James/Paul George acquisition coming with a side of a Luol Deng salary dump.

The absolute nightmare scenario isn’t even all that scary; it would mean staying the course, corralling the current young squad and waiting for next summer’s marquee lineup of free agents.

In the middle of possibilities is that comfy warmth of the extremely plausible, the scenario that will more than likely happen according to, apologies, my gut feeling.

Left to speculate, it’s easy to get a handle on what could probably happen the moment the starter pistol goes off and free agents start to sign.

There is still a strong chance that LeBron James heads to Hollywood following what certainly seems like a finals flameout that has already featured a classic J.R. Smith gaffe and a cringe-worthy time-out admission from head coach Ty Lue.

Win or lose, it’s probable James takes his talents elsewhere next season, a possibility that already has the Lakers fifth among those teams most likely to win it all next year according to a Vegas sportsbook.

The fact that the Cavaliers are 30/1 odds signals that those in Vegas believe James is going somewhere and that somewhere isn’t Cleveland.

But let’s say that James takes a deal with Houston or Philadelphia, skirting the budding talent in L.A.

That scenario actually makes sense. Those other teams may be closer to a title, especially if Houston brings back its core veterans.

James is likely to sit and ponder for quite some time about his next step, a luxury the Lakers simply can’t afford.

Instead of waiting to see if they should use some of their $69 million on possibly landing the King they will look to a player who comes in cheaper at a max deal of about $30 million and presumably wants to play in L.A.

Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale explained recently that Paul George makes the most sense for the Lakers and is currently the most likely headline star to travel west.

Paul George has always been the best free agent most likely to abandon his current digs and abscond to Los Angeles. He informed the Pacers he planned on joining the Lakers before they traded him to the Thunder, for crying out loud.

Mike Bresnahan, in speaking with Dan Patrick recently, thought George was the more probable candidate to pack his suitcases, “Paul George to me is the guy who’s more likely to be on the move.”

The Spectrum SportsNet analyst further broke things down stating that the Lakers might go down a similar path as last year and make the roster one-year laden.

Now George isn’t the legendary player that LeBron is but he’s a top-20 talent that would immediately signal the Lakers’ return to contention.

With the remaining money, the Lakers would hopefully target their own Julius Randle who is a threat to become an all-star as soon as next season.

He has the athletic ability and strength to affect the game down low and can run the floor as well as any big, giving the Lakers exactly what they need in the modern era of the NBA.

Again, if the Lakers do nothing they still come away from this summer as a plausible playoff team.

Citing the performance of Josh Hart, the L.A. Times’ Tania Ganguli put it best at the end of the season: “Hart, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball could absolutely form a core that sneaks the Lakers into the playoffs, especially if they can avoid the spate of injuries that slammed them late in the season.”

Without LeBron, landing Randle would become a presumed priority. The good news on that front is that both the team and Randle still have warm and fuzzy feelings for one another. The other mistress in the equation, the Dallas Mavericks, are no closer to a title and are reportedly looking “much higher” than Randle with their available money.

In this, the most likely of scenarios, the Lakers will have come away with one of the top free agent prizes (George), re-acquired the services of a homegrown talent on the cusp of breaking out (Randle) and saved a bit of cash to throw around for one-year contracts. Ahem, Isaiah Thomas.

There would also remain the possibility of making a splash during next season if the Lakers could convince a team that Luol Deng still has legs, that they still work and that they would be better served taking on an expiring contract than not.

In any case, no matter how you slice this bread, the Lakers are going to have a great summer. Bask in the glow, Los Angeles. The June gloom of past years is over.

Robert Munakash is a native to Los Angeles. He grew up in the gas station and real estate business, following in his father’s footsteps. Munakash is a graduate from University of Southern California and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations in 1990. He purchased his first gas station in 1995 and has had the entrepreneurial spirit ever since. He is the proud owner of Pacific West General 76 in Pacific Palisades.

Robert Munakash

Owner at Pacific West General Store, Inc. Pacific Palisades, CA.

Address: 17299 Pacific Coast Hwy. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
tel: 310-459-7645
email: rmunakash@aol.com

Excellent management skills and experience. Strong practical and theoretical foundation in sales through marketing, advertising, and customer service. Proven success in implementing productivity-enhancement systems.