Channing Frye recently gave the young core of the Los Angeles Lakers some very high praise.
While all eyes will be on LeBron James next season for the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise does have a very strong young core as well.
Last season, the Lakers were able to improve quite a bit thanks to their very talented young core of players. In his second season, Brandon Ingram improved a ton from what we saw in his rookie season.
In addition to Ingram, rookies Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart all had strong seasons in their first year. While injuries were an issue for the Lakers, they were still able to improve quite a bit, and had a really strong stretch a little after the new calendar year started.
Even though Channing Frye wasn’t on the Lakers long after being traded by the Cavaliers, the young core of the Lakers certainly impressed him. Here’s what Frye had to say about the young core of the Lakers compared to others in the NBA to Erik Gunderson of USA Today.
"“I’ll tell you this: they’re arguably the most talented group in the NBA. And I mean talented in terms of experience, years playing in the Western Conference and they’re overall position.”"
This is certainly high praise from Frye, as there are a few other teams in the NBA that have really good young cores. While teams like the Celtics and 76ers might have great young cores, the Lakers’ core is just as talented according to Frye.
Due to the addition of LeBron, the young core of the Lakers will be expected to accomplish a lot this season. While the organization doesn’t have championship expectations this coming season, they certainly want to see more growth.
Even though the Lakers didn’t bring back Frye, he will be back in Cleveland next season with the Cavaliers. His time with the Lakers might have been short, but the young core clearly left an impression on him. With James and the talented young core of the Lakers, the present and the future is very bright.