Los Angeles Lakers: 10 important storylines for 2019 – Part 2
4. A Major Trade
This is going to be a story until the trade deadline passes because the Lakers are the Lakers. I doubt the Purple and Gold are going to be able to trade for Anthony Davis, but my feeling is that Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka are now willing to trade Brandon Ingram.
Why? The Lakers players really seem to like each other, with one exception, they’re not fond of Ingram. When Lonzo, Kyle Kuzma, LeBron or any other player not named Ingram hit the floor, every Lakers’ player sprints over to him and helps him up. But, when Brandon’s down, a few of the guys slowly walk over to him and then begrudgingly give him a hand.
The Lakers players know how selfish Ingram is on offense and they’re slowly starting to get more and more annoyed. The front office can see what’s happening and I’m sure they’re monitoring the team’s chemistry as well as Ingram’s fit with the other player’s.
Ivica Zubac has really upped his trade value over the last week, so is there a team out there that would trade an All-Star caliber player for Ingram, Zubac, and a 1st rounder? Is Magic willing to give up on a guy as talented as Ingram, because he’s not a willing passer and because he starting to rub some of the other players the wrong way?
For the record, I don’t want to see Ingram traded but, we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I can guarantee one thing: there will be dozens of different trade rumors involving the Lakers over the next month.
