NBA free agent 2016 rumors: Lakers to go after Kevin Durant, DeMar DeRozan willing to return home?

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to have locked in their potential targets from the pool of 2016 NBA free agents who will be on the market this coming July.

The team is doing its best to fill the void left by Kobe Bryant, who recently retired from the game. The Lakers already have their eye on certain players that they know will help them deliver a season much better than this year.

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder tops the list of 2016 NBA free agents the team wants to go after. For the first time since Durant skyrocketed to bigger fame, the superstar is finally for the taking.

Such opportunity does not always come around and so the Lakers know that they need to strike while the iron is hot. Retired Lakers point guard Magic Johnson feels the same way.

Pursuing Durant was revealed as part of the "comprehensive" NBA free agency plans of the executives of the team. According to OC Register's Bill Oram, these plans were also explained to new Lakers coach Luke Walton.

Meanwhile, Johnson also advises the team to keep a close eye on 2016 NBA free agent DeMar DeRozan of Toronto Raptors, who, according to reports, shares the same desire to switch to LA.

"He's made it very, very clear that he wants to be in LA. He has family out there. He's from out there. He wants to be in L.A. He wants to wear the purple and gold," sports journalist Stephen A. Smith said during the "ESPN First Take."

"And if there's a way for it to happen, again he's restricted, if there's a way for it to happen, DeMar DeRozan will be in a Los Angeles Lakers uniform next season," the commentator claimed.

Meanwhile, Johnson also suggested that it is worth the try to go after NBA free agent LeBron James, even if all the odds say he will stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers.