Los Angeles Lakers veteran guard Kobe Bryant has insisted that the organisation must think about the long-term future rather than his last year in the NBA.
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The 36-year-old suffered a season-ending injury for the third straight year, and after undergoing shoulder surgery at the start of 2015, he hopes to be back and fully recovered for training camp ahead of next season.
Bryant will then enter the final season of his playing career in the NBA, and although he would undoubtedly love to compete for a championship in his last eight months in the league, he recognises that the organisation needs to prioritise building for the future.
General manager Mitch Kupchak has already insisted that he will be making moves that benefit the team in the long-run this summer, and it appears as though Bryant agrees with his approach.
“It’s a balance of both,” Bryant said, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
“You always want to set the franchise up for the long term. Mitch and I are on the same page. What he said in the interview is not something that we haven’t talked about before. It’s nothing different. You don’t want to compromise the future of the franchise for one season. You try to balance that.”
The Lakers have an opportunity this summer to improve, as they are expected to have a high Draft pick, will have enough salary cap space to sign a top free agent and will have rookie Julius Randle back after suffering a serious injury in his first game in the league.
While the likes of Marc Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge might be out of reach, Rajon Rondo and Goran Dragic have been heavily linked with the Lakers over the past few months and they will likely be targets again in free agency.
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