Lamarcus Aldridge, The future?

July 1st is officially in the books and the max contract was all the fuss today.  It all kicked off with Anthony Davis receiving the first max contract with a whopping 145 million over 5 years.  Pretty much lined up to be a Pelican until he’s 30 and with good reason after his breakthrough year last season.  He was obviously a no brainer when it came to discussing his max contract, but were the other’s the same?  Quickly following suit, were Kawhi Leonard, Goran Dragic, Jimmy Butler and Kevin Love, all receiving over 90 million over 5 years.

Although some of those contracts aren’t considered max contract with their respective teams, it is still a hefty offer to kick off free agency week.  While most of the big names have already signed back with their old teams while few found new homes, there is one name that has yet to come to a decision.  LaMarcus Aldridge.

So what do we know?  Well, he is the biggest free agent right now, yet to sign an offer after he decided to opt out of his current contract with Portland.  He is quite the attraction at the moment, since many teams are courting him closely.  A week ago, the rumors were buzzing how strongly the Lakers wanted Lamarcus going all out in preparation for July 1st.  Now that the day has oficially come to an end, we found out LaMarcus wasn’t at all impressed with the Lakers presentation.  That quickly came as a shock since the whole NBA world thought the Lakers were for sure guaranteed frontrunners.

After this shocking turn of events, the old and well now current frontrunners San Antonio have a good shot at landing the former Trailblazer’s big man.  Along with Phoenix, Mavs, Lakers and only the Knicks pending, Aldridge was very impressed with the Spurs presentation.  R.C. Buford attended the meeting with Duncan, Parker and Leonard and sources are reporting that Aldridge left very satisfied and intrigued with the possibility of playing with the 5 time NBA champions.  After the Spurs Splitter trade, the door is now wide open for them to acquire Aldridge, and now even closer to the max.  They just need to figure out where the former 4 time All Star forward currently stands and what they need to get him on board.

A surprise out in the West are rumors reporting that the Suns also made quite the impact and have also gained momentum after recently signing Tyson Chandler to a 3 year deal.  He is a major factor in play at the moment and a center LaMarcus Aldridge can definitely work with.  Along with Bledsoe, the Suns made a hard push yesterday and are in the perfect position in the Aldridge sweepstakes.  The other teams involved don’t really stand a chance right now.  The Knicks don’t seem to offer the deals and team the Spurs and Suns currently have and honestly have less of a chance than the Lakers in my opinion.So a decision looms as free agency continues throughout this week.  Where will LaMarcus Aldridge take his talents to?  I honestly think Spurs have more of an advantage than the Sun’s based on their history and championship caliber team.  But the Suns could be the fresh start for a prime payer focusing on his future.  I guess time will tell as the 4th of July weekend comes closer and judging on how these meetings have been going and the decision at hand, we probably won’t be hearing anything until Sunday night.  Let’s just hope the Alamo city will come out victorious.

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