Perhaps, Jim Buss knows something that we don't. Certainly, Stephen A. Smith seems to believe he knows something that we don't, which may be the source of Buss' wild confidence he can turn around the Lakers by 2017.
Smith, who argued last summer that Kevin Durant has serious interest in reviving the once proud Los Angeles franchise when he becomes a free agent after this season, now is saying that Durant's Thunder running mate Russell Westbrook may come in the summer of 2017 as a free agent to help Durant rebuild the Laker dynasty, to ESPN 710's Mason and Ireland, via complex.com.
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"Keep in mind this," Smith said, "one of the biggest reasons I'm told that Kevin Durant may have the Lakers at the top of his list, is because the Lakers have been led to believe, by whom specifically I do not know, but the Lakers have been led to believe that it is a very good chance that the following year Russell Westbrook is coming."
Westbrook is a Southern California product who attended UCLA, so that makes sense. And it also lends a bit of sanity to the wild rumor that the Lakers could be shopping first-round draft choice D'Angelo Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in last year's draft.
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The wild insinuation about Durant coming to Los Angeles was made more intriguing by the feud Smith started with the Thunder superstar, telling Durant that he didn't want to make an enemy out of Stephen A. Smith.
But if one or both of Smith's bold predictions take place, Buss might actually make good on his promise to get the team competing for NBA championships again. The deadline is the end of next season, but if the Lakers have Durant and appear to have a chance at Westbrook, Buss, for all his bungling of the Lakers in the last few years, would deserve an extension.
Those are big ifs in Los Angeles.
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