The Los Angeles Lakers are still licking their wounds after getting dominated by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs. Not only did the Mavs sweep the Lakers and go on to win their first NBA title in franchise history, but Dallas may have put some serious pressure on the Lakeshow to make some changes before next season.

One change that the Lakers couldn’t avoid this summer was hiring a new head coach. Even though it was thought to be a daunting task to find a head coach willing to take over for arguably the greatest NBA head coach of all-time in Phil Jackson, Jerry Buss and company didn’t take long before deciding to give Mike Brown a shot at being the leader on the sidelines in Los Angeles.

Now that the Lakers have found the successor to the Zen Master, the storied franchise will focus on improving their current roster through the NBA draft, free agency and possibly via trade. The one player that has come up in a lot of trade rumors as of late is perennial All-Star forward Pau Gasol.

With Gasol’s collapse in the playoffs recently, the Spaniard may have played his way out of the City of Angels and a likely destination could be with the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves.

The most recent rumor has Pau Gasol going to Minnesota in exchange for up-and-coming big man Kevin Love. Not only would Love want to come back to Los Angeles (played for UCLA), but the Lakers seem to be interested in getting here as he would fit in perfect with Kobe Bryant and company.

The best indication of whether or not the Lakers will pull the trigger on this trade will come at the NBA draft on Thursday, June 23. If the Timberwolves make moves with their second overall pick, I won’t be surprised to see Love land in Lakerland.

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