Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love shoots over Los Angeles Lakers' Ryan Kelly. (Photo : Getty Images)
The LA Lakers may have run out of offseason moves and failed again to find a star for the team.
What they are left with is a mixture of a young core and serviceable veterans like Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov, Lou Williams and Nick Young. It's clear that the onus of the Lakers' improvement is on the core, and the big question for them this year is whether the core will be good enough to make them contenders in the future. If the answer is "no" then the Lakers' front office have their work cut out for them.
Having a horde of high draft picks is no guarantee of success. Looking at two teams who had lottery picks for three consecutive years, the results can be as diverse as the OKC Thunder (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden) or the Cleveland Cavaliers (Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, Dion Waiters, Anthony Bennett).
The Thunder became perennial title contenders. The Cavs needed a return of their superstar to tow them back into the playoffs (and a title). The Lakers does not have that privilege (Kobe's retired).
The Lakers' core of Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram (and non-lotto picks Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance) projects to be in the middle of those two teams. The jury's still out on whether they can make the playoffs this year, but is it enough for the team to sit on this young core?
After the Russell Westbrook extension, Kevin Love is probably the most "tradable" star player. SB Nation scribe Tom Ziller is convinced the Cleveland Cavaliers would still trade him even if they won a championship. They just have to wait for the championship euphoria to simmer down.
Ziller thinks Love will be traded because Love is not a great fit with the team looking to give LeBron James more minutes at the four. That means Love will be paid $ 21 million to be a reserve. The Cavs could get younger, cheaper talent for that. While it may not happen this summer, it could be executed in the middle of the season.
By then, the Lakers' core, specifically Julius Randle or Larry Nance could develop into a worthy replacement, along with other pieces. However, Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report warned against such a move citing that Love is in decline.
The Lakers does not have too many choices for a star trade. The Kings continue to hold out on DeMarcus Cousins, same with the Bulls for Jimmy Butler. Doc Rivers will probably ride out with Blake Griffin.
If the core is impressive enough, maybe a trade would not be necessary. But if they don't project to be a playoff team even in the future, they need to make changes as recent history suggests that free agency is not reliable. Kevin Love won't drag the Lakers into the playoffs by himself (he couldn't do that in Minnesota) but if he's with the Lakers, the prospect of attracting a free agent in the summer of 2017 seems higher.
