NBA Rumors: Who Will Be The Next Face Of The Los Angeles Lakers?

NBA Rumors: As the Los Angeles Lakers enter a new era, with the retirement of Kobe Bryant, who will be the next face for the storied franchise?

With Kobe Bryant gone into retirement, the Los Angeles Lakers not only finished the 2015-16 season with their worst record in franchise but they are now spearheading towards a future without their long-time superstar, the Black Mamba.

First off, the front office wasted no time in firing Byronn Scott as head coach and immediately hired Luke Walton, another multiple-time champion as a Laker during his playing years. Through the past two decades that the Lakes were under the leadership of Kobe, we’ve seen them win championships, multiple times. We’ve seen them win games, multiple times.

And yes, we’ve seen them lose games, miss the playoffs and get disoriented – multiple times too. And now that the Black Mamba is probably enjoying his much-anticipated retirement, the nagging question is already up in the air: Who will lead these young Lakers into next season and beyond?

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To begin with, the future of the Lakers’ young trio of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, is still unclear especially with the Lakers holding the number 2 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Whether or not the trio will still remain intact come October this year, it’s up to the front office. But, if you are General Manager Mitch Kupchak, you have a young core and you have the second pick in the draft. Are you going to trade them for an immediate superstar?

Even if they can snatch Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder (assuming Durant decides to look elsewhere), it will not guarantee that the Lakers will be back in contention for a playoff spot, to say the least.

But, if you can convince the young core to stay together, pick Brandon Ingram in the draft and even manage to sign a superstar like Durant or even Hassan Whiteside, then you got yourself a promising team. And we all have remember the mere fact that Kobe Bryant’s retirement has given the Lakers the luxury and the money to sign new players.

We all saw who virtually led the Lakers during the 2015-’16 season. Jordan Clarkson. He averaged 15 points per game, just behind Kobe’s 17 a night. If anything, Kobe’s final assist to Clarkson against Utah looked like he’s already passing the torch to this young, talented guard. And according to Clarkson himself, he would want to stay with the Lakers.

The Lakers themselves already know how it feels to play without a superstar with Kobe missing a handful of games during the past three seasons., mostly due to injury. They managed to win some games without a vocal leader on the court but what about in the long run?

Taking over a team that has been struggling for years isn’t a scene that any superstar would want to get into. But, if you’re Kevin Durant who respects Kobe for his greatness, or if you’re LeBron James who is rumored, again, to be signing with the Lakers, again, would you pass on this opportunity to play for this organization?

Assuming the Lakers get Durant this time, along with the hype, KD will bring a lot of things for the Lakers. A Kevin Durant in purple and gold will help energize this franchise that has been suffering tremendously in terms of losing winnable games and even, losing on signing big names in the free agency.

Get Kevin Durant and you got yourself a superstar that can lead the team even when he is offensively struggling. Sign the wrong player, break the young core or, trade the number 2 overall pick, you’re off to a bad start in the post-Kobe era.

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The Kevin-Durant-to-the-Lakers might be a difficult thing to achieve but with the Lakers already free of paying Kobe’s huge salary, they have the luxury to start getting better. And, they can start that by signing someone like Kevin Durant to become the franchise’s next superstar, the franchise’s future, the next face of the Lakers.