The Los Angeles Lakers have built one of the best young rosters in the NBA and they don’t plan on breaking it up.
The Lakers, who are three games out of the Western Conference’s final playoff spot, have reportedly been making calls on trade targets like Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap.
But, they reportedly are unwilling to break up their young core of Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell in an effort to get better at the NBA trade deadline, according to Sporting News. They also are reluctant to part with Jordan Clarkson or Larry Nance Jr., both of whom they figure will be key rotation players for the foreseeable future.
Russell, Ingram and Randle all are in the top 16 in minutes played by players age 22 or younger. The Lakers are one of only two teams to have a trio of players in that category, the other being Zach LaVine, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now that they are out of the shadow of Kobe Bryant, the young Lakers are beginning to find their way under first-year head coach Luke Walton, having won three of their past five games, with Ingram scoring in double-digits in each of the last four.
The Lakers could look to deal one of their veteran players at the deadline, such as Luol Deng or Lou Williams, but they seem content to develop and build around the best young core in the game. The purple and gold only will continue to get better as Russell, Ingram and Randle find their games and build chemistry over the next few years.
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