Sources: Aldridge, Lakers to meet for 2nd time
Highly coveted free agent LaMarcus Aldridge will take a second meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers and will have dinner with Pat Riley of the Miami Heat, sources told ESPN.com.
Aldridge’s meeting with the Lakers will focus on just talking basketball with general manager Mitch Kupchak and coach Byron Scott, sources said.
The Lakers were the first to sit down with Aldridge, in a meeting that lasted nearly two hours and had seemed to the Lakers to go “really well,” a source told ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne on Wednesday.
However, the Lakers were “stunned” to find out that Aldridge was less than impressed by their presentation, a source told Shelburne.
Aldridge was underwhelmed with the meeting, a source told ESPN’s Chris Broussard, saying that the presentation focused too much on the off-the-court amenities of life in Los Angeles and not enough on basketball. The Lakers tried to sell Aldridge on the marketing opportunities available in L.A., the Los Angeles Times reported.
By having Aldridge sit down with just Kupchak and Scott, it appears the Lakers plan to pitch the 29-year-old on how he fits into the team’s on-the-court product.
“This time we want a chance to really focus on basketball and what we can do for him,” a team source told Shelburne on Thursday.
The Heat’s foray into the Aldridge sweepstakes comes hours after the team agreed with Dwyane Wade on a one-year, $20 million contract.
One team apparently out of the Aldridge sweepstakes is the New York Knicks, as the veteran forward cancelled his planned meeting with the team, according to reports.
Aldridge, the most attractive free agent on the market, already met with the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Mavericks, Suns and Raptors.
The Suns began their effort to clear cap space to offer Aldridge a max contract by agreeing Thursday to trade three players to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for a future second-round pick.
Trail Blazers teammate Damian Lillard, who received his own contract extension in Portland on Thursday, tweeted this message:
We’ve built something great in #RipCity… Would love to continue that playing along side @aldridge_12 … Sure our team feels the same!
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) July 1, 2015
According to one ESPN source, though, the chance of Aldridge staying with the Blazers is “very unlikely,” with the Spurs considered the favorites to sign him.
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