The current NBA season is not yet finished but as early as now, the Los Angeles Lakers are already preparing for the next one.
The purple and gold team had a 21-61 win-less record to finish second to the last in the Western Conference standings. This is the second straight year that the franchise failed to make the playoffs. For a team with rich history, missing the post-season is an epic failure and the only recourse is to regroup.
The Los Angeles Lakers is preparing the new season as early as now. However, the preparation is not like the usual. The team do not move players in and out yet. Instead, theyare looking at the new season as some kind of celebration of the times Kobe Bryant spent with them.
In an interview with Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick in his "NBA Sunday Trip" program, Los Angeles Lakers part-owner and president Jeanie Buss said the 2015-2016 NBA season will be a celebration for Kobe Bryant who started with the team in 1996.
On https://twitter.com/br_radio">@br_radio "NBA Sunday Tip," https://twitter.com/JeanieBuss">@JeanieBuss on Kobe Bryant: "I look at this season as a celebration of his 20 years with the Lakers."
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/592337851909410816">April 26, 2015
Right now, Kobe Bryant still has one year left in his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The franchise do not have any words though whether they will renew the contract of the Black Mamba who helped them win five NBA trophies. In an earlier interview, Lakers general manager Mike Kupchak said the plan is to 'drop' Kobe Bryant.
"The makeup of the team right now is just not clear enough for us to drop Kobe in and say, 'This is what we expect. Can you do it?'" Los Angeles Lakers manager Mike Kupchak told LA Daily News when asked about the future of Kobe Bryant with the team. "We have to wait until the first couple weeks of July."
"I have assumed that he has one year to go and is 36 now. That's all I can plan on," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said. "That's all he's planning on. A year from now, maybe different. But right now, that's all we're planning on."
