Lakers' Buss: Changes will be made if team isn't contending soon

For the first time since 1976, the Los Angeles Lakers are set to post losing records and miss the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. The storied franchise doesn't expect that to continue much longer.

The Lakers have never missed the playoffs three times in a row, and with the last two years representing two of the franchise's three worst seasons ever, patience is beginning to wear thin. Partial owner and team president Jeanie Buss has said the franchise expects to be back to its old ways in short order, shooting down the idea of tanking earlier in the year and taking a firm stance that things will once again resemble what they looked like under her father, Jerry Buss.

Brother and executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss has promised a return to the Western Conference Finals in the next three-to-four years. Jeanie Buss recently told Los Angeles Daily News that if that timeline isn't realized, changes will be:

Then we owe it to our shareholders, fans and partners that we have to move in a different direction to get this team back into contention. We made a commitment that we would operate the team the way Dr. Buss ran it.
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I've been assured by our basketball operations that the team will be back in contention soon. If we are not meeting those goals, then changes have to occur. I have no reason not to believe them when they tell me that's what they can deliver. I don't see what would be holding them back.

Exactly what the Lakers will do in the immediate future is unclear. Kobe Bryant has one season left on a deal that will pay him $25 million and the books are otherwise fairly clean, potentially making them free agent players.

They'll also have Julius Randle returning for a de facto rookie year and, barring some terrible lottery luck, a top-five pick in this June's draft. If the timelines of those players don't match up with the organization's goals, they could represent currency as they try to fortify through the trade route, instead.

General manager Mitch Kupchak has said that the team will value flexibility this summer, possibly waiting for the cap to explode in 2016, so next season may not represent a dramatic turnaround. Whatever the case, Lakers fans can apparently be sure the plan isn't for a two-year valley to be the new norm in Hollywood.