Conclusion and wrap up
Lakers fans, in general, are quite happy with how the team is currently assembled. If healthy, the Lakers should contend for the title this season. If, as expected, AD re-signs with them in July, they should be a championship threat for many years.
But it’s still fun to consider what might have been. In an alternative universe, one in which Lakers management decided to build solely from within, their roster could have been:
Guards: Russell, Ball, Clarkson, Hart, Mykhailiuk, Bonga
Forwards: Ingram, Randle, Kuzma, Nance
Centers: Zubac, Bryant, Wagner
That team might have been too young to contend this season. But they could have fared quite well in the future for quite a long time as the best of the group (Ingram, Russell, Kuzma, Randle, Ball) reached the peak of their careers.
We’ll never know, of course, how well that surrogate Lakers team might have done. But one thing we do know is that the Lakers have done a superb job drafting players the past five years.
Hopefully, they’ll do just as well in future years with players they plan to keep so they can build on the nucleus they’ve created.
All statistics courtesy of www.basketball-reference.com