Now that the NBA regular season is about to draw to a close, teams eliminated from the playoffs will be looking forward to the offseason featuring the free agency, the NBA draft, and possible trade transactions.
Uncharacteristically, the LA Lakers with a rich history of 16 NBA championships is part of the lottery-bound teams as they will miss the playoff for the second straight year, reports The Smoking Cuban.
It has been reported time and again that the Lakers were not happy with the performance of Jeremy Lin in their team after acquiring him on the third year of his $25 million three-year contract from the Houston Rockets.
The showtime franchise felt that for his kind of salary, Jeremy Lin is an underachieving lot and is being viewed as underplaying to his true potential, in reference of course to his Linsanity days back in New York City, nearly four years ago.
Jeremy appeals to Mark
Flamboyant and high-profile Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban now finds the prospect of getting the services of Lin when the point guard becomes a free agent during the offseason.
The information was disclosed by Mark Followil, an announcer and a trusted source in the Dallas Mavericks community on April 1 citing that Mark Cuban called him very early in the morning to tell him that he (Cuban) is interested in bringing Jeremy Lin to the Mavs next season. But the report has yet to be confirmed by Mark Cuban though.
During his Linsanity days in New York, Jeremy Lin was also playing alongside Tyson Chandler who now plays again for Dallas. The duo can relive their pick-and-roll and alley-oop plays back when the Knicks pounded the Mavericks on Chandler’s 28-point and 14-assist performance which happens to be part of the Linsanity days.
If there is truth to this rumor, then Rajon Rondo, the current point guard of the Dallas Mavericks whom they acquired from the Boston Celtics late last year will definitely be offloaded from the Texas franchise.
Rondo has been, for a number of times, in conflict with Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle. Letting go of Rondo on the free agency market will give Carlisle one less problem in his rotation. And adding Jeremy Lin to its roster would also serve him and the wishes of Mark Cuban good enough.
Rondo to LA?
On the part of Rajon Rondo, he was personally being courted by Kobe Bryant right at the start of the season to join the Lakers. But eventually, he decided on going for Dallas from Boston.
And right after the All-Star break, there were also reports that the Los Angeles Lakers will definitely pursue Rondo and lure them into their fold comes the offseason. With his spate of misunderstanding with Rick Carlisle in the past, a new team and a new head coach would certainly be appealing plus the thought of playing alongside a rejuvenated Kobe Bryant next season.
While this report has yet to be confirmed by any of the parties involved, the possibilities are really right there and it would certainly be a win-win situation for all parties involved if Jeremy Lin goes to the Mavs and Rajon Rondo goes to the Lakers during the NBA offseason.
Jeremy Lin would tear up the league if he gets to start at PG for the Mavs. He just needs the right offense and Linsanity will return!