Years of futility led to the Los Angeles Lakers accumulating draft picks that morphed into trade chips or key pieces of a promising core. That factored prominently in LeBron James signing a four-year, $153 million contract this summer.
While there was plenty of speculation over whether or not James would actually entertain playing with such a young team, and even more on the likelihood he’d join the Lakers without a second established star, they proved to be moot points.
James went so far as to explain he didn’t believe it was necessary for the Lakers to trade for Kawhi Leonard because of the confidence he has in youngsters Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma.