The Los Angeles Lakers are ready to turn the page with Lonzo Ball as their centerpiece. It’s been a week of clarity from the front office after months of speculation about where the franchise is headed, the new regime led by Magic Johnson making a bold statement.
The weight of the Lakers’ previous direction wasn’t going to drag their vision for the future down. Timofey Mozgov’s nightmare of a contract, the $64 million tree trunk that broke a front office that had little room left for mistakes, needed to go. The No. 2 pick that Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak dreamed of being the kid to bring showtime back to the Lakers was someone else.