Report: Kobe Bryant was ‘very good’ in Lakers meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge, which went ‘really well’

The Lakers have had prominent free agent meetings in each of the last two summers, only to come away empty-handed when all was said and done.

L.A. chased Carmelo Anthony last year, and reportedly got close. The year prior it was Dwight Howard, though the chances of him re-upping was always extremely slim, for a variety of reasons.

The Lakers were much more optimistic about their chances of landing one or more big names heading into this round of recruiting, and the first meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge reportedly went about as well as could be expected.

Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com:

The Lakers meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge went almost two hours. Source in the room said it went “really well”

From a person in the room for the Lakers pitch “LaMarcus seemed completely focused.”

Always hard to gauge how a meeting really went, but Lakers felt better about this mtg w/ Aldridge than they did w/ Dwight or Melo.

Bill Oram of the Orange County Register:

Been told Kobe Bryant was “very good” in Lakers meeting with LaMarcus Aldridge. Also that meeting went “well,” for what that’s worth.

This doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things; Aldridge knew what the Lakers had to offer before he stepped in the room, and things probably won’t be much different in San Antonio, the other city that has the strongest chance of signing him.

But after the way the last two summers ended in disappointment for the Lakers, they’ll take any encouraging signs they can at this stage of the process.