NBA Free-Agency Begins

At 9 o'clock tonight, free-agency began in the NBA, and no one faces a more daunting task than the Lakers. The Purple and Gold must try to resign Lamar Odom (left), Trevor Ariza (right), and Shannon Brown. It will be a long and bumpy road as owner Jerry Buss and GM Mitch Kupchak try to bring all three back while still not going too high above the salary cap. Ariza is a young small-foward who showed his incredible athleticism in the playoffs, grabbing steals and hitting three-pointers almost automatically. Odom came up big after Andrew Bynum went down with a knee injury, and was a force off the bench. He is capable of playing all five positions, and is a rebounding machine. Brown was a sign of stability at the point-guard spot as Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar both began to underperform. As Fisher gets older, Brown might be needed to split time with Farmar. It's not an easy task to have all three men return, and even with the extra cash from selling their draft picks, the Lakers have a lot to think about.