Even though the Los Angeles Lakers are struggling this season, general manager Rob Pelinka believes they are on the cusp of relevant.
Things have not gone to well for the Los Angeles Lakers in terms of their win/loss record this season. With the team currently on a five-game losing and only winners of three games in the month of December, they are well under .500 now.
Even though every team aspires to make the playoffs, that is not going to happen for the Lakers this season. While some games have been hard to watch this season, the future is still bright in Los Angeles.
This past NBA Draft, the Lakers did a very good job in a draft that they had to succeed. The Lakers were able to draft three players in the first round, and they arguably got the steal of the draft in Kyle Kuzma late in the first round.
With some good young players like Brandon Ingram already on the team, the Lakers have one of the most talented young cores in the entire league. In addition to the young talent, the Lakers have also been able to create a good amount of cap space.
For these two reasons mainly, general manager Rob Pelinka believes that the team is on the cusp of being great again very soon. Here’s what he recently said to Sam Amick of USA Today about the future of the organization.
"“If you think of where we are right now, we feel like we have one of the best young cores in the league. …We have as much cap flexibility, or cap health, as any team in the league. We know that this is a destination city for players to want to be in. We have a legacy with our franchise that really can’t be duplicated, and we’ve got a pass-first, ball-sharing point guard (in Ball), which players want to play with.”"
Pelinka is absolutely right that the Lakers are getting close to being where they want to be. This offseason will be one of the most important in the recent history of the franchise.
For the Lakers, they would certainly like to get rid of the contract of Luol Deng in order to be able to potentially land two max players. While that won’t be easy, worse contracts have been moved in the past.
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If the Lakers are able to add either one of two superstars in the offseason with their young core of Ingram, Ball and Kuzma, they will be in excellent shape to get back to the playoffs next season. Even though the past few years have been tough, there is certainly a light at the end of the tunnel for the Lakers.