National Basketball Association

Aldridge crosses Lakers off list, did not mesh well with Kobe

Published Jul. 1, 2015 5:01 p.m. ET

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By Larry Brown

You can cross the Lakers off LaMarcus Aldridge’s free agency list.

According to Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times, Aldridge did not care for the Lakers’ free agency pitch to him, and will not be signing with the team. This represents a change given that the Lakers were said to be moving up Aldridge’s list prior to free agency.

An earlier report Wednesday by Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski said the Lakers did not make a strong impression on the free agent forward. Bresnahan augments that notion and provides more details, saying that Aldridge did not mesh well with Kobe Bryant.

Breshnahan posted on Twitter:

LaMarcus Aldridge will not be joining the Lakers, The Times has learned. They were a 50-50 choice but he disliked bball part of presentation

Aldridge was floored in a good way by Houston's analytics, on-court projections in their presentation. Not so with the Lakers.

More LMA: He and Kobe didn't quite gel. It's a little vague, but Aldridge apparently didn't quite get answers from Kobe he was seeking.

Kobe spoke for about three minutes in the presentation, said he envisioned LaMarcus Aldridge working with him the same way Pau Gasol did.

Translation: Aldridge did not like what the Lakers pitched him about their plans to improve to improve coming off a horrid 21-61 season. Without the Lakers in the picture, Aldridge reportedly will be choosing between the Spurs and Rockets, with the Suns as a potential contender in a sign-and-trade. San Antonio is being viewed as a frontrunner. The Spurs even traded Tiago Splitter to Atlanta to make room for a contract for the former Blazer.

Now we can also add Aldridge’s name to the list of free agents Kobe supposedly has cost the Lakers.

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