Lakers Enter Francis Interest

[Kings113]

Orlando Sentinel - Add the Los Angeles Lakers to the list of possible suitors for Orlando Magic guard Steve Francis.

The Lakers are "aggressively" pursuing a trade that would send forward Lamar Odom to the Magic for Francis in a multiplayer deal, NBA sources told the Orlando Sentinel today.

Odom, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound forward, is an all-around player lost in Kobe Bryant's immense shadow with the Lakers. He was acquired in that megadeal involving Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat .

Odom, who is averaging 13.9 points and 9.2 rebounds, has four more years remaining in a contract worth about $51 million.

Francis, who has three more years and about $48 million left on his deal, is in Houston, where he has a home and is attending the festivities involving the NBA All-Star Weekend.

Francis' agent, Jeff Fried, said today that the Magic haven't informed him that a trade was pending. The trade deadline is Thursday.

"There's no change in Steve's situation that I'm aware of," he said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-bk-spt-francis021706,0,7953079.story?coll=orl-magic

Nelson
Stevenson (this guys improved a bunch)
Odom
Howard
Battie/Milicic

That'd be quite a good line-up.

Francis/Kobe would be a fun back-court. Just can't see the Lakers trading Odom unless they plan to do a deal for another SF or draft one.

 

[Bibby_10]

Francis and Kobe is a disaster waiting to happen. Man I hope they make the trade.

 

[Evenstar]

now that i would LOVE to see

 

[SLAB]

Get it done Lakers.

Franchise and Kobe = instant locker room meltdown.

Betwen those two, everyone else would get the shoot the ball about five times a game...And eventually one of them would blow up over a reduced role in the offense.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Lets just hope that in his infinite wisdom Mitch can figgure out a way to get Francis AND KEEP Odom! Maybe they could trade Walton or Sasha?

 

[Kev.in]

Nowhere to go but down with that trade. They'd be trading one dummy for another, except that the new dummy is a shot-happy guard and the old dummy is an unagressive forward.

Odom is better than anything the Knicks could offer for Francis, so I hope they get it done.

 

[VF21]

Stevie Francis and Kobe Bryant...

Make it so!

 

[AriesMar27]

that would be hilarious..... but they would win some games though....

who would the start at sf? cook? walton? thats asking for trouble...

 

[VF21]

^^Who would start at small forward? It might as well be a chair. It's not like he'd ever touch the ball or anything...

 

[Kings113]

I'd assume Walton given his fit to the team

 

[Bad Boy Bo]

Me and my friend, one who is a Steve Francis fan, last week was talking about where would Francis end up. He mentioned, he wanted to see him play along side with Kobe. After a few seconds of pause, we both laughed and talked about how bad that would be. Oh man, this would be a disaster waiting to happen. MAKE IT HAPPEN!

 

[Evilmav2]

Boy oh, boy... I was just getting excited thinking about how ridiculous a Francis-Starbury combo would be, and now the press is talking about a Kobe-Franchise pairing? Please, please, please let this happen... If only for the entertainment value...

 

[KingKong]

Yikes? Now there's a scary lineup. Both will put atleast 80 shot attempts combined. Further evidence that Kupchak is a moron.

 

[Yoda]

Yikes? Now there's a scary lineup. Both will put atleast 80 shot attempts combined. Further evidence that Kupchak is a moron.

76ers West

 

[Evenstar]

Lets just hope that in his infinite wisdom Mitch can figgure out a way to get Francis AND KEEP Odom! Maybe they could trade Walton or Sasha?

that would be even better!

oh my, get er done mitch!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ParniValjak]

Francis/Kobe would be a fun back-court.

Yep!!!!!! Fun for piksi and many other Kings fans around the world

If this trade goes down then Lakers wouldn't be playing basketball. It would be known as tug of war

 

[Packt]

Not sure how such a ridiculous idea can even be born, but that would give Orlando the biggest front court in the league-- long, versatile, with shotblockers at all three positions. But then Odom could just end up stiflin Darko.

I don't see why LA would want Francis. He's not an off the ball player, and that's what Kobe needs. I wonder if LA could do it over, would they still trade Caron Butler. He's not the player Odom is, but he was the only guy that looked happy playing along side Kobe. They could've won a lot of games just on the chemistry of those two.

 

[Kings113]

LA Times - Laker officials denied there was anything to a published report that the team is pursuing a Lamar Odom-Steve Francis trade with Orlando.

"He knows at this time there are a lot of rumors out there," said Odom's agent, Jeff Schwartz, "and he's taking them with a grain of salt."

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/39208/20060219/lakers_deny_that_odom_is_on_the_block/ (have to register to get link)

 

[Andriod_KiNg]

Yikes? Now there's a scary lineup. Both will put atleast 80 shot attempts combined. Further evidence that Kupchak is a moron.

Unless its 79 shots for Kobe, that wont work.

 

[nbrans]

I'd be careful what you wish for. Francis/Cuttino was a pretty awesome backcourt, Kobe's even better than Cuttino. I find it pretty hard to believe that adding Francis to the Lakers would make them worse.

 

[piksi]

We need Lakers to have Odom