Lakers preview: Sooner or later, L.A.'s story won't include Kobe

Lakers fans were paying close attention when Kevin Garnett was finally traded away from Minnesota, sharing the outrage, hopelessness and sense of loss felt by most in the Twin Cities.

It wasn't some bizarre kinship based on the Lakers originating in Minneapolis way back when, or the disdain for the Boston Celtics that still endures after a decades-old rivalry. The sympathy was based on the future, not the past.

Kobe's high-flying days in L.A. may be over very soon. (AP)

Garnett coming to L.A. was one of the few alternatives the team had to realistically keep its own favorite son, Kobe Bryant. Garnett knew as much, and has said over the summer that although he would've welcomed playing with a superstar of Bryant's caliber, he questioned the effectiveness of the Lakers front office and passed.

As the regular season approaches, with Bryant resting his legs and owner Jerry Buss having come out and said that the Lakers have and would continue to listen to trade offers, the reality that L.A. will join Minnesota in heading in a new direction should be slowly setting in.

The truth is that the writing has been on the wall for years, starting with the 34-48 finish at the end of Phil Jackson's first tenure with the club. L.A. suffered through that as if it was going to be the only rough patch it would have to go through, kind of like raising a toddler through their terrible twos and then expecting them to stop bouncing off the walls on their third birthday. Even with Jackson returning, reloading has not occurred, delivering mediocrity.

If we're talking about anyone but Kobe and any team but the Lakers, the rebuilding process would've begun long ago. Instead, the team has tried to have it both ways, bringing in Kwame Brown and drafting Andrew Bynum and hoping that both former lottery picks would become major factors immediately.

Very few teams are able to get away with that. Most have to hit rock bottom to reload. Most have to part ways with a Garnett or an Allen Iverson in order to create cap space and cultivate young talent in a pressure-free environment. With Bryant around, that atmosphere will never exist, nor should it. It's unfair to him, just like it was unfair to Garnett in Minnesota.

The waiting game now continues, expedited by Bryant's offseason trade demands and now, by Buss' latest comments. At some point, someone is going to offer a package that entices the Lakers to pull the trigger and finally head another direction.

The signs are all there, impossible to ignore. Jackson is holding off on signing a two-year contract extension worth $20 million. Bryant isn't talking again, concentrating on resting his legs. The front office has gone from vehemently denying they would ever move the face of their franchise to conceding it's a possibility.

Lakers fans should be truly feeling Minnesota. The end of an era is near.