Over recent seasons the Los Angeles Lakers worked a balancing act between developing their young core while the front office also worked to free up salary cap space to pursue stars in 2018 and 2019 free agency.
The paths crossed this summer when LeBron James signed a four-year contract, in part because of the promise shown by Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma. For much of last season the proverbial ‘Lakers young core’ was comprised of Ball, Ingram and Kuzma.
After a slow start to his rookie year, Hart played his way into making the trio a quartet.