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Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak doesn't expect Kobe Bryant to try to play a particular way in order to make the Lakers more attractive to free agents next summer.

"Kobe is not going to play to lure somebody to Los Angeles," Kupchak said Wednesday, addressing the press in advance on Saturday's media day. "He’s going to play to try to win games. If the way he plays helps lure players to Los Angeles, then so be it. But trust me, in January, February and March, that’s not what he’s thinking when there’s a game being played."

The Lakers have a massive amount of cap space stored for the summer of 2014 when they figure to be major players on the free agency market.

Whether Bryant is the one doing the recruiting or not, the Lakers will have to start to bring in fresh blood as their three best players -- Bryant (35-years old), Steve Nash (39) and Pau Gasol (33) -- are all far closer to the end of their careers than to the beginning.

Kupchak does not seem too worried about getting those players, whoever they might be, to come to L.A. despite the fact that the team was unable to convince Dwight Howard to stay earlier this year, and despite the fact that executive vice president Jeanie Buss' memoir, "Laker Girl," suggests the relationship between she and her brother, fellow VP, Jim Buss has been strained.

"I don’t think [the book] would have anything to do with [free agency]," Kupchak said. "The Lakers and Los Angeles remains a destination place for athletes of any sport. This is a wonderfully supportive fan base in Los Angeles. It’s a vibrant city and the franchises that have been here, our franchise has been one of the best if not the best, once it came here in 1960. We’ve always figured out a way to bring players and put competitive and championship teams on the court. Those things don’t change."

What has changed is the Lakers' philosophy on doling out lucrative, multi-year contracts to role players as the team attempts to adjust its business and basketball practices under the rules of the NBA's current collective bargaining agreement.

"The worst thing you can do is be burdened with contracts that are $6-7-8 million a year that go out 3-4 years and you have just kind of average players," Kupchak said. "Then you’re really kind of stuck in the middle -- you’re not going to get a good draft choice and you’re not going to have financial flexibility. So, in our opinion, we’re set up probably as best as we can be set up for the future."

That set-up involved stacking the 2013-14 roster with a bunch of players whose contracts all expire at the end of the season. That could create an environment full of players who are motivated to play for their individual numbers in order to make themselves more attractive when free agency comes around, but Kupchak did not seem worried about that scenario.

"I think players look at it as an opportunity," Kupchak said. "And they clearly get guidance from their agent, but I’m sure their agents are saying, ‘Listen, if you play well in Los Angeles, they have all this cap room and financial flexibility a year from now. This is a great opportunity for you.’ In years past, when we were so far over the cap, I’m sure a lot of agents said, ‘Even if you play well, they’re only going to sign minimum [contract] guys.’ But I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve talked to a bunch of agents and I think they feel this is a good spot for players."

He better hope so. If not, then Bryant's recruiting pitch might be necessary. The last thing the Lakers want to have happen is to clear all that cap space and not find anybody worth spending it on.

Granted, the 2012-13 season was pretty crummy for every Los Angeles Lakers player, but consider the plight of Jodie Meeks.

After two and a half solid seasons in Philadelphia, where Meeks established himself as a valued contributor on playoff teams, the sweet-shooting guard signed with L.A. at a discount with the hopes of winning a ring.

While he witnessed his teammates go down left and right with injuries as the season wore on, Meeks fortunately avoided any health problems. With Kobe Bryant out with a torn Achilles tendon, it was Meeks who was on the court at shooting guard in Bryant's place in the regular-season finale against the Houston Rockets, driving baseline and throwing down a game-sealing dunk in overtime to secure L.A. the seventh seed in the postseason.

But whoever was holding the purple and gold Voodoo doll spared Meeks only for so long. He suffered a third-degree sprain in his left ankle in the Lakers' opening playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs, ending his season three games sooner than his team did after the Lakers' decimated roster was swept by the Spurs.

"It was really bad timing," Meeks told ESPNLosAngeles.com in a phone interview from his offseason home in Atlanta on Monday. "I was very frustrated just because, selfishly, I was like, ‘Man, I can get as many shots as I want now and I can’t even play.’

"I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to kind of showcase what I could do on a more productive level because the guys were hurt."

As this upcoming season approaches, all Meeks wants is that opportunity again.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- After spending the first eight years of his career in L.A. after the Los Angeles Clippers drafted him in 2003, Chris Kaman never thought his path would lead him back to the City of Angels.

"I'm excited for another opportunity back in L.A.," Kaman said Tuesday at his introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Lakers. "I never thought it was possible. I just never thought I would be back here."

How sure was Kaman, who spent the past two seasons in New Orleans and Dallas, that his life was done in L.A.?

"A week and a half, literally, before I decided to make my decision to come [to L.A.] I closed on my house in Manhattan Beach that I had had for like five years," Kaman said with a groan.

Just like the Lakers never expected Dwight Howard to bolt after only one season when they acquired him, Kaman figured his days in Los Angeles were a thing of the past. The Clippers had moved on with DeAndre Jordan in the middle. The Lakers had just the mini midlevel exception, worth about $3.2 million, available to try to lure a non-veteran-minimum-type free agent. And the Lakers were offering only a one-year deal, looking to keep their books open to make a major splash in the summer of 2014.

Much like Howard took a paycut to go to Houston, Kaman chose not to hold out for more money because L.A. felt right.

"Sometimes players are not fitting in the best situations all the time and it didn't work the way that I anticipated," Kaman said of his one-year stint with the Dallas Mavericks, playing alongside his German national team comrade, Dirk Nowitzki. "Coming into this year, I wanted to make sure that I had a good fit where I would go."

While there's a Howard-sized void in the Lakers' roster where Kaman can slide right in, it remains to be seen whether he will start at center with Pau Gasol at power forward, or be the first big man off the bench backing up Gasol and Jordan Hill.

"It doesn’t matter to me," Kaman said of a potential substitute role. "I'm here to do a job and, whatever it is, I'll do it."

Kaman averaged a modest 10.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks last season, but it's the way Kaman scored that had the Lakers interested. He can play the pick-and-pop game, evidenced by his 51 percent mark from midrange last season (16-23 feet from the hoop), which ranked seventh among players who played in at least 40 games.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- In the week since Dwight Howard announced his decision to go to the Houston Rockets, players and front-office members of the Los Angeles Lakers have been treading pretty lightly on the subject.

General manager Mitch Kupchak released a statement wishing Howard luck. Even Kobe Bryant said, "I'm happy for him."

Leave it to L.A. native and newly-minted Laker Nick Young to say what everybody seemed to be thinking at his introductory news conference on Friday.

"That was the first time I've ever seen anybody leave L.A., wanting to leave L.A., and I'm from here so I haven't seen that," said the 28-year-old Young, who not only played high school ball at Reseda Cleveland but also played his college basketball at USC. "But Dwight had to do what he had to do."

Young jumped at the chance to return to the place where Howard fled.

"I just felt like I needed this opportunity," Young said. "Over the past couple of years, I feel like I've been getting disrespected a little bit out there and I feel with this stage the Lakers set, with the opportunity for playing time here, I can get my name back out there and get the respect I feel I deserve. I did this for myself, really."

The disrespect Young was referring to occurred in Philadelphia last season. The 76ers signed him to a one-year, $6 million deal, and he languished on the bench, picking up DNP-CDs with regularity. A season before that, he was hitting big shots in the playoffs for the Los Angeles Clippers. In 2010-11, he was averaging a career-high 17.4 points per game for the Washington Wizards.

Coming to Los Angeles was about getting back on track.

"We think there's a lot of playing time here for him if he works hard and earns it," Kupchak said. "We see him playing at the small forward and the guard position. He's very gifted athletically. We know he can score. We've been talking about improving the other parts of his game, which I think he's committed to working on to becoming a complete player."

While the Lakers couldn't offer Young much in terms of salary -- he signed a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum, worth about $1.2 million -- what they could offer was the precious commodity of a chance to play major minutes and a shot at the future.

Even though the Lakers have let it be known they want to maintain as much cap flexibility for the summer of 2014 as possible to pursue max-level free agents, Young is seen as a piece that could stick around once those marquee players are added.

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Los Angeles Lakers fans, brace yourselves.

You’re about to experience the basketball equivalent of the well-known lyrics of frequent courtside seat holder, Tom Petty:

“The waiting is the hardest part.”

For a team that has won 16 championships and made it to the NBA Finals 31 times (in a league that’s only been around 67 years, meaning that just about one out of every two seasons, L.A. is within four wins or less of the title), giving up on championship aspirations before training camp even opens up seems sacrilege.

But with Dwight Howard choosing to go to the Houston Rockets and L.A. now sporting an aging roster without the best big man in the game to make up for it, the 2013-14 season is destined to be nothing more than a holding pattern for the Lakers.

All is not lost, however.

The upside is that next summer promises to be a pivotal time in the franchise’s history. And if everything goes according to plan, the Lakers should be able to eventually vault themselves right back on a championship trajectory.

Before we get to the summer of 2014, let’s look at what the Lakers have in store for themselves in the immediate aftermath of Howard’s decision.

Outside of filling out their roster with the limited free-agent tools they have at their disposal (the mini mid-level exception of $3.2 million, as well as veteran minimum deals), the Lakers’ front office brass of general manager Mitch Kupchak and vice president of player personnel Jim Buss must figure out what to do with the players they currently have under contract.

A source familiar with the Lakers’ thinking told ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Ramona Shelburne they will not use their one-time amnesty provision on Pau Gasol during the July 10-16 window when the league allows teams to waive one player they signed prior to December 2011 without that money owed counting against their salary cap.

With Gasol back in the fold to slide over to center in Howard’s absence, that means the Lakers will most likely amnesty Metta World Peace.

While World Peace enjoyed a resurgent season last year, he is coming off minor knee surgery and waiving him would save the Lakers close to $25 million in salary and luxury tax fees.

With World Peace let go the question is, will a core team of Kobe Bryant (coming off Achilles surgery), Gasol, Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Jodie Meeks and Jordan Hill even be competitive?

Say Bryant is out until Christmas while his left leg recovers:

Will the Lakers be 10 games under .500 at that point without him? And if they are, would it be better to try to make a run for a low playoff seed at that point or simply join in the “Tank for Andrew Wiggins” movement that several teams -- the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors among them -- already seem to be primed to do in order to increase their odds of drafting the University of Kansas phenom?

The Lakers would never admit it, but bottoming out next season could be the best thing for the franchise in the long run.

As L.A. sent away future first-round draft picks last summer in order to acquire Howard and Nash, they were sure to hang onto their first-rounder in 2014. Wiggins is considered a generational talent along the lines of Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James. But even if L.A. doesn’t end up with the No. 1 pick to land Wiggins, Duke’s Jabari Parker and Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart are considered can’t-miss prospects, as well.

Maybe the Bryant-Nash-Gasol-led Lakers are still good enough to make the playoffs and maybe Bryant comes back sooner rather than later. That might take them out of the running for Wiggins & Co. But L.A. also has positioned itself to go after the league’s marquee free agents next summer, by carefully coordinating when it would have cap space open up.

Every player but Nash comes off the Lakers’ books after the 2013-14 season. Which means that should Bryant negotiate an extension at a discounted rate (think $10 million range), L.A. would be able to pursue not one, but two max-level free agents and immediately be in the hunt again.

It might seem like a pipe dream, but would you doubt the Lakers’ championship chances if they got Bryant and Gasol to come back on the cheap and were able to lure the likes of James, plus Carmelo Anthony or Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh or DeMarcus Cousins or Paul George?

However, just like the Lakers' first-rounder in 2014 won't guarantee them a top-three pick if they miss the playoffs, having all that cap space doesn't guarantee a shot at any of these players. Some of them, most notably James and Anthony, would have to exercise an early termination option on their current contracts to hit the market. Others like Cousins and George (you can throw Washington's John Wall into the mix, too) will be restricted free agents, so something would have to go south in their current situations for their respective teams not to match any max offer that came their way.

“Should Dwight leave, we’ll have a Plan B,” Kupchak said the night of the draft, about a week before L.A. learned Howard would indeed be bolting for the Rockets. “It’s not going to be as good as Plan A. But we do have a plan that goes beyond one year.”

“It is a system. It’s not like there are no rules in the NBA,” he said. “There is a system that is in place that provides the team that does the worst [to get] the best picks. If you have good teams with good players, then the players have to be paid well. That puts you into an environment where you don’t have free-agent money and you can’t use exceptions. It’s hard to replenish that team.

“At the same time, the players get older. It’s a natural cycle that you have to live with, but you plan the best for opportunities. That’s not to say there won’t be a two- or three-year [rebuilding] period like there was in the early '90s. But if there was, we feel like it would be short-lived.”

It could be as short-lived as one year’s championship chances all but forgotten even before the season had tipped off.

Then all of the waiting could pay off big in the summer of 2014.

LOS ANGELES -- Ever since Aug. 10, 2012 -- the day the Dwight Howard trade to the Los Angeles Lakers became official -- the team has been preparing for the day in July 2013 when they would get the chance to ensure that Howard would stay a Laker for years to come.

Howard is the top free agency priority for the Lakers this summer. It cannot be overstated how much the team is hitching its hopes to Howard sticking around to assume the role as the next face of the franchise.

But one All-Star center does not a team make.

The Lakers have seven players under contract for next season: Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, Steve Blake, Jordan Hill and Jodie Meeks. Howard would make eight.

They have also extended a qualifying offer to Robert Sacre, making him a restricted free agent, and drafted Ryan Kelly in the second round. If they both make the team, that puts the roster at 10.

The Lakers could very well amnesty either World Peace or Gasol if Howard decides to come back, which could bring the roster number down to nine. Or they could look to trade one of them, which could swell the Lakers' number of players to 10 or more, depending on if it was a package deal.

Because of all the uncertainty, and because of the limited resources available to them to sign free agents, and being that they are a luxury tax-paying team which comes with repercussions under the current collective bargaining agreement, the Lakers cast a wide net when it came to pursuing their initial wave of free agents.

Yes, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak met with Howard for a brief face-to-face shortly after 9:01 p.m. PT Sunday evening, but his night didn't end there. The Lakers' GM got lost in a flurry of phone calls, making sure to express initial interest in a bevy of free agents that could potentially fit in with the team.

Going back to the roster math, we've outlined a Lakers team that is already comprised of 10 players. That means L.A. will be looking to add five more players at the maximum, but more likely three or four. The Lakers like to enter into a season with at least one open roster spot to make it possible to pick up an unsigned or waived player later into the year, or help facilitate an uneven trade (example: trade one player away, get two in return).

As hinted at before, keep in mind the Lakers don't have much to offer to these free agents because of their current salary cap situation. L.A. has the mini mid-level exception (worth approximately $3.2 million) and veteran minimum contracts available at their disposal. That's it.

Here's a breakdown of the players who we know are on the Lakers' radar, thanks to ESPNLosAngeles.com and media reports:

THE INCUMBENTS

These players are all unrestricted free agents, but have the benefit (or potentially the drawback) of familiarity with the team.

Earl Clark: A throw-in as part of the Howard deal, Clark was a spark plug for the Lakers in January and February before fading down the stretch and bottoming out in the playoffs. L.A. could do worse than getting Clark back, but there could be better options out there, despite the fact Clark is just 25. Clark is set to meet with the Cavaliers and former Lakers coach Mike Brown on Tuesday, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Darius Morris: A second-round pick by the Lakers in 2010, Morris finally got his number called in the playoffs because of injuries and averaged 14 points and four assists in L.A.'s final three playoff games after Bryant, Nash, Blake and Meeks went out. The Lakers chose not to extend Morris a qualifying offer, but did invite him to play on their summer league team. If he comes back, it would be for a minimum contract.

Andrew Goudelock: There's no doubt that Goudelock can shoot it, but the same reason he was cut from the Lakers in the first place (lack of size and defensive deficiencies) is the same reason he probably won't be back with the team next season.

THE REACHES

These guys are young and talented with enough of a question mark surrounding them to make it conceivable the Lakers get them, but enough upside to create a competitive market that will likely price the Lakers out.

Nick Young: The Lakers had interest in the L.A. native last summer as well, before Young inked a one-year deal with Philadelphia worth $6 million. Although sometimes erratic, Young has a prototypical 6-7, 210-pound frame as a shooting guard and is still just 28 years old. He would have to give the Lakers a major hometown discount to put on the purple and gold.

Chase Budinger: Part of the Lakers' pitch to Howard will be that they will surround him with shooters to open up his game down low. Budinger fits the bill, but Minnesota has interest in keeping him and Milwaukee, New Orleans, Utah, Indiana, Dallas and Memphis could all look to get him as well. The Lakers probably won't be able to compete in a bidding war, but Budinger grew up in San Diego, so maybe the SoCal appeal could help.

Chris Copeland: The 6-8, 225-pound Copeland possesses the potent skill combo of being able to defend on the wing while also hit down his outside shots (42.1 percent from 3 as a rookie). However, New York, Milwaukee and Indiana all have interest in him as well.

THE SENSIBLE FITS

These players should fall right into the Lakers' wheelhouse in terms of being affordable, while bringing a clear skill set to the table.

Wayne Ellington: The Cavs did not extend a qualifying offer to the 6-4 Ellington, who has shot 38.2 percent from 3 in his four-year career. He might be somewhat redundant with the Lakers already having Meeks, but as Miami proved in the playoffs, you can never have too many shooters.

Francisco Garcia: He's been on the Lakers' radar for a while -- Phil Jackson once urged the team to trade Sasha Vujacic for him while Garcia played for Sacramento -- and he could bring the right mix of what L.A. is looking for. Garcia is a gritty small forward with length who could shore up L.A.'s perimeter defense. He's also a career 36.1 percent shooter from deep, so he could help in that department too. At 32 years old and coming off a lackluster season, he should be attainable for L.A.

Carlos Delfino: Another Houston castoff as the Rockets shed salary in their pursuit of Howard, the rugged Delfino offers much of what Garcia does, but is two years younger. His playoffs were cut short by a fractured right foot that required surgery, so health could be a concern.

Byron Mullens: The classic case of a guy putting up good numbers on a bad team, Mullens blossomed in Charlotte into a legit stretch four after not seeing much playing time in Oklahoma City. He could be a redundancy considering the Lakers drafted Kelly, but at just 24 years old and standing 7 feet tall, there is a reason for the Lakers' interest.

THE FORMER LAKERS

These are the been there, done that guys who are looking for work. Like the incumbents, the Lakers' familiarity with them can be a double-edged sword.

Jordan Farmar: To get Farmar would require the Lakers to pay his buyout of approximately $500,000 to Anadolu Efes of the Turkish Basketball League. While that figure wouldn't count against L.A.'s cap, the Lakers already have two point guards in Nash and Blake and would probably only offer Farmar the veteran's minimum of $1 million if they did try to get him. Still, at just 26 years old and with athleticism, scoring ability and championship experience, Farmar could be a bargain and good insurance to have behind the Steves.

Matt Barnes: He never really found his rhythm in his two seasons with the Lakers, but Barnes is coming off a great year with the Clippers when he put up a career-high 10.3 points in just 25.7 minutes per game. As a confidant of Bryant and former teammate of Howard, he could fit right back into the locker room as well.

Sasha Vujacic: Vujacic is in L.A. training for the summer and has been in contact with Lakers reps. He can still shoot and he's still long and can be pesky on defense.

THE PLAN B'S

This group lets you know just how wide of a net the Lakers have cast. Because of the relatively meager contracts they can offer compared to other teams with cap space around the league, the Lakers must have contingency plans.

Brandan Wright: He came into the league with big expectations out of UNC and has been labeled a disappointment because of it. Yet, Wright's numbers last season (8.5 points on 59.7 percent shooting and 4.1 rebounds in just 18 minutes per game) were solid. Perhaps the back-up big could be a reclamation project for Kupchak, a fellow Tar Heel.

Shawne Williams: He was out of the league in 2012-13, but before that enjoyed the best stretch of his career playing for Mike D'Antoni in New York when he averaged 7.1 points on 40.1 percent from 3 in 2010-11.

Will Bynum: A classic change-of-pace guard off the bench, the compact 6-foot, 185-pound Bynum had a rocky relationship with management in Detroit but proved he could score in bunches.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- When it came time to make the Los Angeles Lakers' No. 48 pick in the second round of Thursday's NBA draft, part of general manager Mitch Kupchak wanted to cringe.

"It was dramatic," said Kupchak, a University of North Carolina alumnus, about selecting 6-foot-11 forward Ryan Kelly out of Duke. "It was traumatic as well."

Kupchak was able to stomach dipping into the other side of the Tobacco Road rivalry if it meant making the Lakers better, which he feels the team accomplished in picking up a stretch four in Kelly who shot 42.2 percent on 3-pointers in his senior season with the Blue Devils.

"He was the player that we had rated the highest still on the board," Kupchak said. "It's unusual to get a guy who's 6-11, 6-11½ that has a skill like he has. So, it's a unique opportunity. A big player that has an NBA frame that can shoot the ball, not only midrange, but he can make some shots [deep]. I think he can become a consistent 3-point shooter in the NBA as well."

Kelly comes with some risk, however. The 22-year-old missed 13 games last season because of complications stemming from surgery on his right foot last summer. He required another surgery after the season was over to put a bigger screw into his foot to fix his fractured metatarsal and is 11 weeks into the 12-week recovery timetable, meaning that Kelly was unable to participate in a pre-draft workout for L.A.

"When you can't work out and you have foot injury, that's something that people are going to have to look at and they may not be willing to take a chance," Kelly said. "But, I certainly believe that I was worth the chance and I'm going to prove anybody wrong that decided not to get me."

While Kelly has been medically cleared to resume basketball activities, Kupchak said he does not anticipate Kelly would play on the Lakers summer league team in Las Vegas from July 12-22.

"I don't think there's any reason to rush him," Kupchak said. "So, keeping that in mind, you're talking about three more months to get ready for training camp. I don't think there will be any problem."

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Before the NBA free agency period officially begins on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers took care of some business Wednesday.

The team announced it picked up guard Jodie Meeks' $1.55 million contract option for next season and also made a qualifying offer of $989,000 to center Robert Sacre to make him a restricted free agent.

“Jodie is not only a gifted three-point shooter who helps us space the floor on the offensive end, but he is also a very active and underrated player defensively who continues to work on and improve all aspects of his game,” said Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak in a statement.

Meeks averaged 7.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game in his first year in L.A. last season. The 6-4, 208-pound Meeks shot 35.7 percent from deep and was third on the team with 122 made 3-pointers, only behind Metta World Peace's 141 and Kobe Bryant's 132.

Sacre, selected by L.A. with the final pick of the second round (No. 60) of the 2012 NBA Draft, played sparingly as a back-up big man last season, averaging 1.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.3 minutes. The 7-footer out of Gonzaga put up 6.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in three starts at center, however, and fared even better for the Lakers' D-League affiliate L.A. D-Fenders, averaging 11.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 32.6 minutes.

With the luxury-tax laden Lakers only having the mini mid-level exception worth approximately $3.2 million and veteran minimum contracts available to them to fill out their roster for next season, neither offer was much of a surprise.

While two former No. 1 picks in LeBron James and Tim Duncan dominated and defined the NBA Finals for their respective teams, the series wouldn’t have been what it was without a couple of second-round picks.

Manu Ginobili, selected No. 57 by San Antonio in 1999, was brilliant in Game 5 of the Finals and gave the Spurs a 3-2 series lead by putting up 24 points and 10 assists. Mario Chalmers, who went No. 34 in 2008 to Minnesota before being traded to Miami, came up huge in all three of the Heat’s home wins and averaged 17.7 points in Games 2, 6 and 7 to help the Heat to the title.

In Thursday’s NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers will find themselves looking for a similar impact player in the second round. For the sixth straight year, the Lakers do not have a first round pick.

The Lakers mortgaged their future over the past half decade or so, choosing to part ways with first round picks in deals, in the hopes of staying in the championship hunt year to year. L.A. used first round picks as assets to acquire big-ticket players like Pau Gasol (they sent Memphis first round picks in 2008 and 2010 to get it done) and Steve Nash (they sent Phoenix first rounders in 2013 and 2015), figuring that those picks would land late in the first round anyway if the veterans they brought in performed the way they hoped.

With no first round picks since 2007 and a roster composed of a handful of players that use up the vast majority of the salary cap space, the Lakers have found themselves signing their second-round picks -- who come into the league with non-guaranteed contracts -- with regularity.

Their recent success in the second round has been spotty at best. In 2010, L.A. took Devin Ebanks No. 43 and Derrick Caracter No. 58. Caracter played sparingly in his rookie season before an off-court incident, coupled with an injury, led to his release shortly into his second year with the team. Ebanks showed signs of promise in his first two seasons and even started 12 games in 2011-12 as he showed the versatility to be able to play both small forward and shooting guard, but regressed significantly last season and is most likely finished as a Laker.

In 2011, the Lakers took a pair of guards in Darius Morris at No. 41 and Andrew Goudelock at No. 46 who ended up starting in place of the injured Nash and Kobe Bryant in Game 3 of the Lakers’ first round series against San Antonio this spring. They combined for 44 points. The Lakers are invested in Morris and see his athleticism and on-ball defense as an asset. Goudelock’s future with the team is more uncertain, but L.A. knows how well he can shoot and that could give him another chance in coach Mike D’Antoni’s system, depending on how the rest of the summer’s free agency period shakes out.

In 2012, L.A. used the last pick of the draft, No. 60, on Robert Sacre who quickly became a fan favorite and showed signs of promise as a backup center.

Second-round picks are long shots by nature, however, and the Lakers have had their share that didn't pan out at all. Remember Chinemelu Elonu (selected No. 59 in 2009) or Ater Majok (No. 58 in 2011)? You probably shouldn’t. Neither have come close to putting on a Lakers uniform as they’ve put up feeble numbers playing in second-rate leagues overseas. How about Darius Johnson-Odom? While the Lakers didn’t technically draft Johnson-Odom (Dallas used their No. 55 pick in 2012 on him), they did bend over backwards to acquire him on draft night by paying the Mavericks close to $500,000 for his rights. Johnson-Odom registered all of four rebounds and one assist in four games before being waived in January.

The Lakers find themselves in the long-shot lottery once again this year, hoping that their No. 48 pick will turn out to be a player who can cut it in the league because the team has roster spots that need to be filled and only has the mini mid-level exception (approximately $3.2 million) and veteran minimum contracts available to fill them.

Everyone from Bryant to D’Antoni to general manager Mitch Kupchak has stated that the Lakers need to address length and athleticism this offseason, so that would be at the top of their priority list heading into the draft.

That’s easier said than done when you have to wait for 47 other names to be called before you make your pick. L.A. could simply choose the best available prospect on its draft board when it is finally on the clock for No. 48.

Regardless, here are 10 names that could fit the bill:

Archie Goodwin – Kentucky | SG |6-5 | 189

Even after an underwhelming freshman season with the Wildcats, it would be a stretch for Goodwin to be available for the Lakers. But questions about his outside shot and maturity could cause the 18-year-old to drop and Goodwin could end up being a steal.

Colton Iverson - Colorado St. | C | 7-0 | 262

Lakers fans have been clamoring for another Iverson for years, but Colton’s back-to-the-basket big man game is a far cry from Allen’s crossover days. The true 7-footer impressed at the Chicago combine.

Myck Kabongo – Texas | PG | 6-3 | 180

Kabongo’s time in Texas was muddled by some NCAA red tape, but that shouldn’t take away from his talent and what better mentor could a young, Canadian point guard have than Nash?

Kenny Kadji - Miami | PF | 6-10 | 241

He’s long. He’s athletic. And he shot better than 35 percent from 3 in each of his last two seasons in Miami.

Trevor Mbakwe – Minnesota | PF | 6-8 | 236

He could fall into “tweener” status at just 6-8 playing power forward in the league, but Mbakwe is a rugged rebounder in the mold of Luc Mbah a Moute who will bring defense to whichever team drafts him.

Erik Murphy – Florida | PF | 6-10 | 240

Some see him as the best shooter in the draft. He connected on 45 percent of his 3s last season at Florida, and at his size, should be able to get off those shots at the next level (think Steve Novak).

Alexandre Paranhos – Brazil | SF | 6-8 |241

One of the more intriguing prospects, Paranhos is said to have the physical attributes of LeBron James, but could be around late because teams just don’t know much about him.

Andre Roberson - Colorado | SF | 6-7 | 205

Lockdown defender with a 6-11 wingspan and 36-inch vertical that could really give the Lakers’ lackluster perimeter defense some help.

DeShaun Thomas – Ohio St. | SF | 6-7 | 220

Thomas is a scorer who has played in big-time games, but could be available because of questions about finding a natural position in the NBA.

Brandon Triche – Syracuse | PG |6-4 | 210

Triche was brought in for a group workout by the Lakers and thoroughly outperformed Louisville’s Peyton Siva, according to a source. He has an NBA body, but might be considered too redundant with Morris already on the roster.

LOS ANGELES -- Phil Jackson has no intention to coach next season, but that may not prevent him from being a part of the Los Angeles Lakers in the near future.

Jackson said Wednesday that he has had conversations with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak recently about the team and expects to have more moving forward.

"We discussed some things, me and Mitch in the past couple of weeks, bouncing things around," Jackson said. "That's been something that has happened. It's not something I expect them to rely on me for information, but I'm there to offer it. Not so much advice. Explaining the program that they're headed toward down the road and resolutions they had in the past and trying to clean that up and talk about some of the things in the future that are different ways in which they can resolve the issues. They asked if I can be of assistance. I said, 'Yeah, I'll help in whatever area you need to have help.'"

Jackson was careful not get into specifics of his conversation with Kupchak about the Lakers, but Kupchak said he does talk to Jackson about basketball and the Lakers since Jackson is at the Lakers' facility often to see his fiance, Jeanie Buss, the Lakers' governor and executive vice president of business operations.

"He's over at the facility every now and then for obvious reasons," Kupchak said. "I'll see him then. We have reason to talk by phone every now and then. … Obviously his accomplishments here, and relationship with Jeanie, create an environment that we're susceptible to dialogue with a basketball person like Phil. If he was working for another team, it wouldn't be the same."

Kupchak did not rule out the possibility of Jackson's having a more official role with the team moving forward after Jackson has passed up several opportunities with other teams.

"I'm not sure why somebody like Phil isn't working for an NBA club right now," Kupchak said. "He has so much to offer to any franchise. Even though he doesn't have an official role with us, he's a consultant of sorts. Jeanie, I'm sure, talks to him every night about basketball. It may not be official, but there is an existing relationship."

Jackson, Kupchak and Buss spoke at a Time Warner Cable media event in downtown Los Angeles honoring former Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, who died in February.

Jeanie Buss wanted Jackson to replace Mike Brown as the coach of the Lakers last season, but her brother, Jim, and Kupchak went with Mike D'Antoni instead. Despite not getting the head coaching job, Jeanie Buss says she wants everyone to know Jackson is still an integral part of the team.

"Phil is a part of the organization because of me," she said. "Really the best way to look at it is the night of the Shaq jersey retirement, and Phil spoke on behalf of the Lakers fans and team. I want Lakers fans to know he is part of it. He's part of my life and part of my family. He's always in the Laker world no matter if he has an official position or not."

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LOS ANGELES -- For the first time in a long time, the Los Angeles Lakers are in a bit of a rut. For a franchise that has won 16 championships, a first-round playoff exit via sweep -- punctuating a three-year stretch in which the team failed to make it out of the second round -- is the equivalent of a band known for its epic encores ending a set after playing only a few songs.

How did the Lakers get here? Some occurrences were out of their control, of course. The litany of injuries that depleted the roster this past season couldn’t be anticipated. And the new collective bargaining agreement that went into effect before the 2011-12 lockout-shortened season has severely affected the way the Lakers go about their business.

That said, the Lakers’ management team hardly has been innocent bystanders over the past two years. As with any professional sports team, the Lakers have had to make major decision after major decision in order to maintain their current relevancy while simultaneously keeping an eye on the future. String together a handful of successful decisions in a row -- such as the way the Indiana Pacers picked up Tyler Hansbrough, Paul George and Lance Stephenson in consecutive drafts -- and it can take your franchise to new heights.

However, a couple of wrong moves can snowball, and instead of having that perennial success that once seemed preordained, you’re suddenly like the Bluth family on “Arrested Development.”

Here’s a look at the 10 major decisions the Lakers have made in the past two years that got them to where they are today.

1. Hiring Mike Brown

Following Phil Jackson’s retirement, the Lakers had a short list of candidates to replace him as head coach: Brown, Rick Adelman, Mike Dunleavy and Brian Shaw. The Lakers were blown away by Brown’s interview because of his preparedness and attention to detail, and chose the defense-minded coach who was almost the polar opposite of Jackson in terms of age and coaching style. Brown’s hasty dismissal the following season, just five games into the second year of a four-year contract, is grounds to play the “What if?” game.

What if Shaw had been handed the reins, continued to run the triangle offense and maintained strong relationships with Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol? Maybe Bynum doesn’t have the breakout season he had under Brown’s post-up oriented system, but maybe Gasol’s career doesn’t sputter either. What if Adelman had come in with all that playoff experience from Portland and Sacramento under his belt and kept the group from skipping a beat?

2. Letting go of longtime support staff in conjunction with the lockout

Again, the lockout might have been out of the Lakers’ control, but how they responded to it wasn’t. The team parted with nearly 20 longtime employees in summer 2011 -- assistant general manager Ronnie Lester as well as a collection of experienced scouts among them -- and it was a very public glimpse for the outside world into the inner workings of the Lakers.

“You think of the Lakers and you think they are a great organization,” Lester told the L.A. Times. “But if you work inside the organization, it’s only a perception of being a great organization. It’s probably not a great organization, because great organizations don’t treat their personnel like they’ve done.”

The Lakers have since promoted Glenn Carraro to assistant GM and have hired new scouts, but the layoffs certainly took some of the Lakers’ luster -- and they could have angered the basketball gods, if you believe in that sort of thing.

3. Trading Derek Fisher

In the 43 games Fisher played in his final season in L.A., the veteran guard averaged 5.9 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 38.3 percent from the floor and 32.4 percent from 3-point territory. In the 53 regular-season games he has played with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks since then, Fisher has averaged 5.2 points and 1.4 assists on 34.2 percent shooting overall and 35.7 percent from deep, so it’s not like the Lakers missed out on the final glory days of Fisher’s career. They even got Jordan Hill out of the deal with the Houston Rockets, but moves aren’t always about what’s on paper.

By parting with Fisher, the Lakers got rid of a strong leadership presence in the locker room and also one of the few people on Earth with the power to sway Bryant. Teams across all sports have to cut ties with aging players on a regular basis, so the Fisher move wasn't unprecedented, but it was still jarring to say goodbye to a captain who was an integral part of five championships. In conjunction with losing Fisher, the Lakers acquired Ramon Sessions from Cleveland in a separate trade, thinking the 26-year-old could be their point guard of the future to contend with the NBA’s new wave of talent at that position.

4. Not retaining Ettore Messina and Quin Snyder

The Lakers’ five-game flameout in the second round of the 2012 playoffs against the Thunder was hard enough to swallow, but not long after the team learned it was also losing two of Brown’s top assistants in Messina and Snyder, who were going overseas to coach Messina’s former team, CSKA Moscow. The lucrative salary Messina was commanding to be a head coach once again in Europe made it more his decision than the Lakers’ to part ways. However, the departures of Messina and Snyder -- along with the reclassification of John Kuester to East Coast scout -- pretty much erased any rapport that Brown’s staff had developed with the team and ensured another season of new faces and ideologies for 2012-13.

5. Hiring Eddie Jordan to coach the Princeton offense

With Brown’s original staff gutted, he chose to go in a different direction by bringing in Jordan to run the Princeton offense. Brown was smart enough to get Bryant’s blessing on the move in Las Vegas during USA Basketball camp, before the Olympics and before Jordan officially came to the Lakers, but ultimately the offense proved to be too complicated for the team to run and too much of an ill fit for the pieces the Lakers would eventually acquire.

6. Not re-signing Ramon Sessions

After struggling in the playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder (averaging 6.8 points and 3.0 assists while shooting 35.3 percent, down from 12.7 and 6.2, respectively, on 47.9 percent shooting from the field in the regular season with L.A.), Sessions opted out of the final year of his contract in search of a multiyear commitment. The Lakers would have been amenable to bringing Sessions back had he opted in, but didn’t feel the young point guard had showed them enough to commit for the long term. Sessions received a two-year, $10 million deal from the Charlotte Bobcats and went on to average 14.4 points and 3.8 assists per game as an effective substitute off their bench.

7. Trading for Steve Nash

With Fisher gone and Sessions making it clear he was seeking a commitment the Lakers weren’t willing to give, the story goes that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak called up agent Bill Duffy at the start of the official free-agency period and Duffy happened to be sitting next to Nash at the time. Kupchak was surprised to hear about Nash’s interest in becoming a Laker and so began the negotiation process, which ended with a three-year deal worth about $27 million for Nash and four draft picks -- two in the first round, two in the second -- going Phoenix’s way. The Lakers addressed two major needs -- experienced point guard play (especially after Sessions wilted in the postseason) and shooting -- but also went from a 37-year-old guard in Fisher to a 26-year-old in Sessions back to a 38-year-old in Nash (now 39). Nash went on to average 12.7 points and 6.7 assists while missing 32 games because of injuries in his first season in L.A. and was paid $8.9 million, nearly double what Sessions made (although Nash shot 49.7 percent for the Lakers compared to Sessions’ 40.8 percent for the Cats).

It was a swing-for-the-fences move by the Lakers, who ended up acquiring a Hall of Fame-bound point guard just seven months after being thwarted in their attempt to get Chris Paul. Kupchak and Lakers vice president of player personnel Jim Buss had no way of knowing that Nash would miss so many games because of a fracture in his left leg and nerve damage in his right hip and hamstring, but they knew quite clearly the risk involved in pursuing a guard who was approaching 40 years old.

8. Trading for Dwight Howard

No matter what Howard decides to do this offseason, L.A.’s management deserves credit for bringing him in for Andrew Bynum, who didn’t play a single game in 2012-13 because of his knees, rather than extending a long-term offer to Bynum after he was an All-Star for the first time in 2011-12. When healthy, Howard is right there with LeBron James as the most impactful two-way player in the game. Despite everything that went down in L.A. this season, he was the linchpin in helping the Lakers finish the season 28-12 over the final 40 games of the regular season.

The Lakers traded for Howard not knowing if he planned on signing a max extension to stay with them and figured a season wearing the purple and gold would persuade him to want to put down roots.

Even with the disappointment of Howard’s first season in L.A., it is hard to second-guess the trade made by the Lakers to acquire him. When you can add the best defensive player in the game, you have to do it. However, in adding yet another major contract to the books (to accompany Bryant, Gasol, Nash and Metta World Peace), the Lakers were fully committing to the plan to be a top-heavy team that relies on rookie deals and veteran minimum contracts to fill out the bulk of the roster outside of the mini midlevel exception. This strategy has its upside, clearly, but if any of the talent at the top gets injured or underperforms (which happened across the board this season) it puts severe stress on the rest of the Lakers to play above their heads to reach expectations, which isn’t a reasonable scenario and is a testament to why depth is so important in the NBA.

9. Firing Mike Brown

Hiring Brown was the tipping point to get the Lakers to the state they are in and you could argue that they fired him without giving him a chance to implement what he promised to do. After an 0-8 preseason and 1-4 start to the regular season, Brown was relieved of his duties as head coach. If Brown had been given the time to have Howard get healthy and have Nash return from his leg injury, maybe he would have gotten through to the group and had the success the Lakers were banking on when they hired him. There’s no way of knowing for sure, but by firing Brown the Lakers' management was admitting it made a major mistake on one of those major decisions.

10. Hiring Mike D’Antoni

The same decision that started the cycle two years ago –- hiring a coach –- was the last major move made by Lakers management to date. The front office claimed Mike D’Antoni was a better fit for the current personnel than Phil Jackson was, and didn’t await an answer from the 11-time championship-winning coach before moving forward and offering the job to the former Suns and New York Knicks front man. The Lakers were a far cry from “Showtime II” this past season. D’Antoni even admitted to ESPNLosAngeles.com late in the season that, “We're not running anything that I would normally run.”

Kupchak took that as D’Antoni being adaptable and endorsed the coach as having earned the right to keep his job for next season. While D’Antoni was able to maneuver through injuries and personality conflicts to help guide the Lakers into the playoffs, their season came to a screeching halt with an embarrassing 4-0 sweep to the Spurs once there.

So, that’s how the Lakers got here. The next major decision won’t be the franchise’s, but rather Howard’s to figure out if he wants to remain a Laker. Following that, there will be more franchise-altering choices to make -- whom to trade, whom to amnesty, whom to draft -- that could be either the start of building something in the right direction or the continuation of this difficult period in the team’s history.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Pau Gasol left his exit meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday with an increased sense that he may have played his last game with the Lakers.

“The future is uncertain,” Gasol said. “There’s no doubt about it. It’s a possibility that I could be gone and there’s a possibility that I could stay. I don’t know the exact percentages of it. But I’m prepared for either way.

“I understand the challenges that the franchise is facing, the decisions that they have to make in order to keep the team in the direction that they want to -- looking at the present and the future and also understanding the business side of it. So, it’s a lot going on. I wish things were a little simpler, but they’re not. So we’ll see.”

If the Lakers keep next season's payroll at about $100 million, as it was in 2012-13, the team would owe about $85 million in additional luxury-tax penalties because of the more punitive stipulations in the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

Could Gasol and the rest of the Lakers' major pieces all be back next season? Kupchak said that possibility is “in play.”

“We haven’t ruled anything out as of now,” he said.

Yet Kupchak used similar language to admit that the opposite is also a possibility: "When you lose, everybody is in play ... whether it's Pau or anybody else, we'll look for ways to improve the team."

Gasol's contract has one year remaining at $19.3 million. From a financial perspective, the assumption was that the Lakers would try to trade his expiring deal or opt to use their one-time amnesty provision on the 12-year veteran.

“(Kupchak) couldn’t really tell me, ‘Hey, thanks for everything you’ve done, it’s more likely you’re going to be gone,’ or no, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’re going to stay here. We’re going to make it happen,’” Gasol said. “Which is to be expected. I appreciate Mitch’s honesty and everything that he’s done and the franchise has done for the last two years to keep me here and have me on the team.”

The two-year time frame Gasol was referring to started with his nearly being traded and has included a second-round exit from the playoffs last season, coach Mike Brown's being fired early this season, and a first-round sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs last week.

Gasol, who turns 33 in July, said his experience with the Lakers changed significantly after the three-way trade between the Lakers, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets was vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern on the eve of the first day of training camp for the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The light bulbs on the scoreboard showing the Los Angeles Lakers' 103-82 season-ending loss to the San Antonio Spurs had barely cooled down before they got together one last time to sort through the rubble of their disappointing 2012-13 campaign before saying goodbye for the summer.

The Lakers conducted exit interviews for nine of their 15 players on Monday, with the rest to come on Tuesday.

Here's a recap of what each player had to say to the media, in chronological order, after meeting with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak on Monday.

CHRIS DUHON
Synopsis: Duhon finished with 11 points and seven assists, playing a whopping (and game-high) 43 minutes in Game 4 against San Antonio because of how depleted the Lakers' roster was after not receiving consistent playing time since January.

Lakers future: Duhon is set to make $3.9 million next season if L.A. keeps him around. The more likely scenario is the Lakers buy him out for the $1.5 million that's partially guaranteed in his contract and go their separate ways. "We’re going to talk," Duhon said. "I’ll be here all summer. I’ll be engaged. I have until June 30 for them to pick up my option. We talked about it, and that’s what it is. It’s talk. I’ll be here, we’ll be in contact and whatever decision they make, we’re going to make that decision and go from there."

On Dwight Howard: "I think he’s learned from Orlando, like I’ve always told him, ‘Do what’s best for you.’ Do what’s best for you and your family, whatever makes you happy and keep that to yourself. He’s always been a people-pleaser, always trying to go out into the media and get the media on his side, [but] for him, it’s about him and his family. What makes Dwight happy, that’s what he needs to do. Whatever makes Dwight happy. … He can be happy here in L.A. Why not? This is a great city, a great town. Obviously, it’s an organization with a great tradition and pride, and he should be one of those guys that eventually will get a statue here."

Best quote: On why the Lakers had trouble establishing an identity -- "Injuries, two coaches in one year, not a training camp, injuries, injuries again, another injury. … I mean, I think probably every member on this team has been injured and missed a game this year. I've never experienced that in my nine years in this league. I think we had five guys have major surgeries. This has been a wacky year."

METTA WORLD PEACE
Synopsis: World Peace limped into the practice facility after missing the second half of Game 3 and all of Game 4 after getting a cyst in his left leg drained. He was generally in good spirits, even wearing a Cookie Monster T-Shirt in an ode to a bizarre off-court incident that happened back in February.

Lakers future: World Peace has a player option for $7.7 million. If he exercises it, he could become an easy target for the Lakers' amnesty clause. "You never know, anything could happen," World Peace said. He added he "definitely" wants to be a Laker in 2013-14. "I'm very competitive, so when you lose with a team, you want to win with that team," he said. "The only thing on my mind is winning, and winning here."

On Dwight Howard: "It took me a bit to get used to his personality, but once I was around him a lot -- we sat together on the plane -– once I got the chance to know him a little bit, it was an easy adjustment. He played hard. His personality was just different than everybody was used to.

"He’s just different. He’s always happy for the most part. In games, he’s really serious; not all the time, sometimes. But when it’s like crunch time, he’s very serious. Pregame, the locker room is very at ease. So you got to get used to a franchise player like that."

Injury outlook: World Peace returned to the lineup just 12 days after left knee surgery, but still needs the summer to get back to 100 percent. "As of right now, I'll just take six weeks and heal up," World Peace said, citing the original time frame of play he was expected to miss.

Best quote: On Washington Wizards center Jason Collins' decision to announce that he is gay -- "You should be free to act and do what you want to do as long as it's not violent, no matter what it is. I came here in a Cookie Monster shirt because I wanted to. And I was going to wear the pants, but I thought you guys were going to judge me. And I was going to wear the hat too, but I figured you guys were going to judge me and I didn't want Mitch to judge me. So that's why I didn't wear the hat and the pants, but I should have wore it. You should be free to do and act how you want to act.

"When you can feel comfortable with yourself, not only does it make you a better person, it's unnecessary stress. As we all know, if you're holding things in it can create unnecessary stress to your heart, to your mind and when you can release it and talk about it, you feel better. That's how it should be with anything. Not just coming out if you're gay or if you have a mental issue, or whatever other issue or stigma you have out there, you feel better."

STEVE NASH
Synopsis: The season was a nightmare for Nash, bookended by a broken leg and a bothersome hip and hamstring, but he still appreciated the Lakers life after being on the other side for so long as a rival. "It was an amazing experience to play for this franchise and for this fan base," Nash said. "I think that's the one thing that burns me right now, that it didn't go the way I envisioned. I really wanted to have a huge impact on the team and really make this an incredible year and experience for the fans, players and everybody involved. So, great experience for me, I'm really thrilled to be a part of the franchise and just hope that next year we can repay everybody for their loyalty and their enthusiasm."

Lakers future: Nash has two years and $19 million remaining on his contract with the Lakers. He's set to play seasons Nos. 18 and 19 of his career in L.A.

Injury outlook: Nash missed the final two games of the playoffs with a right hip injury and nerve damage in his right hamstring, which required four epidural injections and a cortisone shot in the last two weeks. But the 39-year-old is already on the mend. "I'm not going to take any time off," Nash said. "I'm going to start rehabbing right away and try to get right." Nash estimated it would take a month to get back to 100 percent and added, "I don't have any concern and I haven't gotten wind from anyone on the medical staff that there's concern for long-term issues or for next season to be in jeopardy. But I still have a little bit of work to do to get right."

Best quote: On the team camaraderie, or lack thereof -- "In the big picture, I think relationships were formed, relationships were kept and developed that were really positive. I think that's the only reason we didn't sputter out of control and find ourselves out of the playoffs."

More to come. For more on the day, read this story featuring World Peace and Nash's thoughts on Howard.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers might have been the only NBA team without a representative at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston over the weekend, but general manager Mitch Kupchak says that will change in the future.

"We have our reasons [for not attending] that we'll keep internal," Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com before the Lakers played the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. "We'll get some feedback and send someone next year."

Kupchak said that the Lakers have never sent a representative from the basketball operations side in the six years the event has been presented. Jeanie Buss, Lakers executive vice president of business operations, was a speaker at the conference last year, however.

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey started the conference in 2007 after initiating one of the first MBA programs with a sports analytics class in 2004. The purpose of the event is to discuss the way advanced metrics continue to increasingly influence the way in which professional sports organizations make their decisions and do their business.

According to the Toronto Star, 26 of the 29 NBA teams in attendance this year had more than one representative, as Sloan has clearly become an event with some traction around the league.

Not that the Lakers' presence was missed, however.

“If we can keep the Lakers locked out, that’s fine with us,” San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford told The Star.

The 2013 basketball analytics panel of speakers included Buford, Indiana Pacers director of player personnel Kevin Pritchard, Boston Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren, former Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy and ESPN The Magazine senior writer Pablo S. Torre.

David Stern will retire as NBA commissioner next spring after a long run with the league that started full time when he was hired as the NBA's general counsel in 1978, one year before Dr. Jerry Buss bought the Los Angeles Lakers.

Both the Lakers and the league as a whole experienced incredible growth and success in that time and Stern and Buss developed a strong friendship.

Stern called in to the "Mason & Ireland Show" on ESPNLA 710 radio on Tuesday to share his memories of Dr. Buss:

In regards to what made Buss a great sports owner, in his opinion:

“Well, he used those numbers and other intuitive features to judge basketball players and to judge those who work for him. We must not forget, Jerry West and Mitch Kupchak have done quite well for Jerry and in addition, as a business man, he understood what it would do to raise ticket prices to the Forum, to give Magic (Johnson) a contract that was outsized by any standard and he used those talents to learn everything there was to learn and make many suggestions about our league and how it should be run.”

On how the NBA would be different had there not been Buss' influence:

“I don’t know whether he led it, or innovated it, or he just flat out changed everything because we’ll never know, but for example, he looked at ticket prices and told us that everybody was pricing the best seats in the house wrong. The supply was limited and the demand would be unlimited and he changed the pricing structure. Would we ultimately have reached that conclusion a decade or so later? Maybe, probably, but he led it and then one fine day, long before there was a salary cap, Jerry thought it’d be a good idea to pay Magic Johnson a million dollars a year for 25 years, an outrageous amount of money that caused some owners to seriously consider selling their teams because this was so nuts. Of course it wasn’t nuts at all, it was, as Jerry said, he was making even a bigger star out of Magic and he realized what Magic could do with the franchise. There were many examples like that, Jerry did them all.”

In regards to how Buss was able to sell his ideas to other owners in league, ex: Laker girls, seating prices, etc.:

"I don’t think he forced his will; he led by example. I don’t remember any blow back on ticket pricing, just a lot of scratching of heads. On the Laker girls, my goodness gracious, I always say that Red Auerbach had the Celtics as the last team that didn’t have cheerleaders. And on the day they were supposed to launch, Red decided it was time to leave this Earth. Go check the records, Red was consistent for all of those years. He didn’t think there should be cheerleaders and he used to push at me for not being strong enough, or whatever it was. That was his pet peeve, but Jerry did it by example. ... With the business of basketball, and even though it says he didn’t meddle, I think that it’s fair also to say that he was the basketball presence of the Lakers, as well, because all decisions went through him. "

In relation to the Chris Paul trade and whether it was an issue with Buss:

“Not even an issue. We had a discussion about why he thought it was good for his team to do what they planned to do and someday I’ll tell everyone what he said about that, but then he also said he understood what I did and there was no rancor of any kind and we had … because we have been having a steady of conversation about collective bargaining and revenue sharing -- because of course Jerry was quite interested in that subject because much of it could be sought to be directed at the Lakers, because they were the largest-grossing team and other teams were going to be sharing in some of that and they were going to be, if they kept their payroll intact, the largest payer of tax because the tax was going up. But Jerry understood that it was in the best interest of the league and his wish was that his partners treated the Lakers fairly because he had always been a good league man.”

In relation to when Stern first saw greatness in Buss:

“It’s just a solid business acumen, time after time. Player drafting, player signing, business practices, being a fixture on the advisory finance committee, being a fixture on important collective bargaining committees and throughout it all, all I can tell you is, he took great pride in what his children were doing and even though I hear the word flamboyant, he was actually, people would find this hard to believe, a modest intellectual to me at many times and he was a thorough delight to have as a friend and an owner.”