Lakers figure to look familiar

The Lakers finally closed the book on a season that lasted 264 days from training camp until Friday, concluding exit interviews with players and signaling that their free-agent haul might bear some familiar faces.

After the last players had finished their individual half-hour sessions, Coach Phil Jackson revealed he had asked many of them the same question -- “How could you get better to help this team next year?” -- while General Manager Mitch Kupchak gave an amusing answer when asked which free agent he coveted most during the off-season.

“Andrew Bynum,” Kupchak deadpanned, underscoring the team’s post-Finals theme that the Lakers managed to make it pretty far without their 20-year-old center . . . and will be getting him back in the fall without even needing to re-sign him.

Kupchak said the Lakers would try to re-sign restricted free agents Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf, who could begin soliciting offers July 1.

He also referred to the last nine months as “truly a magical season,” words he also used when addressing players in the locker room immediately after the Game 6 loss to the Boston Celtics.

“They ought to be congratulated, as should the coaching staff,” Kupchak said. “Of course, it all came to a screeching halt Tuesday night . . . [although] I do believe that the future for this team is bright going forward.”

Along those lines, Kupchak hinted that the team would look internally for off-season signings.

The Lakers currently have a payroll of about $72 million and will pay an extra sum of about $4 million in luxury taxes for being that much over the tax threshold.

Because they are well over the salary cap, the main free-agent tool at their disposal is the mid-level exception, with which they can sign a player for up to five years and about $30 million. The exception may also be split up and used among two players.

Separately, Kupchak indicated the Lakers wanted Vujacic and Turiaf to return.

“I thought [Vujacic] had an excellent season,” Kupchak said. “We intend to bring him back. We intend to bring back Ronny too. Ronny brings to the table skills and energy levels that we don’t have with other players, so he’s not really a duplication of something we already have.”

Vujacic emerged as a dependable shooter toward the mid-point of the season and was expected to draw more attention from other teams than Turiaf, though the Lakers could match any offer sheet signed by Vujacic or Turiaf.

The Lakers will not be going after any big-name free agents, Kupchak said.

“The three or four players that are proven NBA game-changers are not going to be signed for the mid-level [exception],” Kupchak said. “Those types of players won’t be available to us as a signing.

“We’ll continue to look at ways to add to the team, whether it’s through a lesser signing or a trade, but if we did nothing and brought back the players that are existing free agents, just by virtue of this team again one more year and getting Trevor [Ariza] and Andrew back, I think we’re right back in the hunt.”

Bynum, who had arthroscopic surgery last month on his left knee, will soon go to New York to continue his rehabilitation. Then he will head to Atlanta with his personal trainer from mid-July to mid-September.

Bynum said the swelling had decreased in his knee, but he still had minor scar tissue that would have to be “rubbed out.”

Bynum is under contract for next season, but he and the Lakers can agree to a five-year extension beyond that for up to about $80 million until Oct. 31. If the sides have not reached agreement by then, Bynum becomes a restricted free agent after next season, with the Lakers able to match any offer sheet he signs.

“Let’s see what happens,” Bynum said. “You always hope for the best, but whatever’s whatever. I definitely want to be able to take care of my family, be able to do that. We haven’t even started talking about it [with the Lakers]. When we do, hopefully things go good.”

The Lakers are expected to take a wait-and-see approach with Bynum, moving slowly toward negotiations as he progresses further with his rehabilitation.

“Clearly, a player’s ability to be on the court and show what he can do would affect his status in terms of a contract going forward,” Kupchak said. “But the injury is not a career-altering injury. It was not a major surgery. It was something where they went in, they cleaned out a loose particle and they cut back on a flap. We don’t think either one of those things is going to affect his ability to play basketball for the next 10 to 15 years.”

Jackson hoped a healthy Bynum could fill a major void in the middle. The Lakers were exposed by Boston without a dominant physical presence down low.

“If and when Andrew’s back, which we totally anticipate, we’ll be a different type of team entirely,” Jackson said. “We showed that we could win out here in the West, but we weren’t ready for the bruisers of the East for that bruising in-your-face kind of style that was played by Detroit and Boston. They’ve been successful the last two times against the Lakers [in the Finals], those two teams. We have to be able to match that type of play.

“[Bynum’s] size and length and weight carries a real sense of intimidation and that kind of energy that you like to have on the court.”

Meanwhile, Jackson and Kupchak said they were intrigued by the possibility of a frontcourt with Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

“It could be the longest and the biggest frontcourt in the NBA in many, many years,” Kupchak said.

Just the same, Odom, 28, is somewhat of a bargaining chip going into the last year of a contract that will pay him $14.1 next season. He shrugged off the possibility of a trade, saying rumors had been “going on ever since I’ve been here.”

“I came over in a pretty big trade,” he said. “Since then, we’ve missed the playoffs, lost twice in the first round and then we lost in the championship. People want results.

“This is where I want to end my career, as a Laker. L.A. is my second home. I’ve been here since I was 19. I want to remain here.”

It figures to be a quiet off-season in at least one matter.

Kobe Bryant said his days of being a general manager were left behind last summer. In fact, Bryant’s exit meeting on Thursday with Kupchak and Jackson was without incident.

“He was kind of chipper,” Kupchak said. “It was certainly different than last year’s exit meeting.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com