{"id":110639,"date":"2024-12-05T08:26:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T13:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=110639"},"modified":"2024-12-05T08:26:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T13:26:15","slug":"lakers-trade-contenders-brandon-ingram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/05\/lakers-trade-contenders-brandon-ingram\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Among Top Contenders In Brandon Ingram Sweepstakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers have multiple problems right now. Their personnel isn\u2019t quite suited for their defensive scheme. Their offense is overly reliant on soon-to-be 40-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>. Lakers executives Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka take turns trying to solve a whodunnit when they\u2019re the perpetrators.<\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Among Top Contenders In Brandon Ingram Sweepstakes<\/h2>\n<p>To put it bluntly, the Lakers are a mess but it\u2019s nothing new. The coaches may change. The supporting cast may get tinkered with. Yet, the product Los Angeles puts out on the floor is consistently underwhelming. So, at this point, LA has three choices.<\/p>\n<p>The first option would be to replace head coach JJ Redick before the situation gets any worse. It\u2019s quite possible that the first-time head coach is in over his head. If he\u2019s losing the locker room and the team is quitting just a quarter of the way through the season, they might need to put a different general in command.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Redick said he\u2019s going to meet with his coaching staff, his players (as a group) and then certain players individually to try to prevent the group from splintering further. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dbJWD7geGR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/dbJWD7geGR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jovanbuha\/status\/1864505528275096054?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Lakers\u2019 second option would be to make minor transactions to shore up their weak spots. To this point, their lack of high-level three-point specialists, on-ball defenders, help defenders, and paint enforcers <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/03\/identifying-solutions-lakers-early-season-problems\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">have been glaring holes<\/a>. One or two trades or signing could cover them all but it\u2019s unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, they could cosplay as the Los Angeles Dodgers and swing for the fences. Trading for a high-salary star might not be the Lakers\u2019 preference, but it\u2019s James\u2019s. With that being said, James has four times as many championship rings as the Buss and Pelinka tag team. He\u2019s been to the NBA Finals 10 times as many times.<\/p>\n<p>Frankly, he might just know a bit more about how to get their franchise where they want to be than them.<\/p>\n<h3>Building A Big 3<\/h3>\n<p>If they were to take the Big 3 route, finding an All-Star partner for James and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>, they have interesting options.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Bulls guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> has been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/12\/14\/nba-rumors-zach-lavines-camp-interested-in-trade-to-the-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">tied to them in rumors<\/a> for quite some time. Though he doesn\u2019t help them improve defensively, he can play third fiddle or be the No. 1 option on any given night. His outside jumper also allows him to complement James and Davis well, as both are at their best scoring around the rim.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/12\/lakers-should-be-all-kawhi-leonard-on-trade-front\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">nightmare-slash-dream scenario<\/a>, Los Angeles Clippers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a> could become available. Had the Clippers not have been playing so well without Leonard, this might not be a conversation. In fact, they could still use his added firepower to take the team to the next level. Still, they\u2019ve found <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/24\/clippers-win-seven-straight-at-intuit-dome\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a formula that works<\/a> and that leads to questions about his future there.<\/p>\n<h3>Familiar Faces<\/h3>\n<p>Then there\u2019s New Orleans Pelicans forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ingrabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Ingram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ingram has overlap with other stars that are or could become available, such as Washington Wizards forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kuzmaky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Kuzma<\/a>\u00a0and Minnesota Timberwolves forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/randlju01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julius Randle<\/a>. Ironically, all three of these players were once teammates on the Lakers. Over time, Randle has become the most accomplished. However, Ingram would mesh better with the Lakers than either of his former teammates.<\/p>\n<p>Like Randle, and to a lesser extent Kuzma, Ingram has shown the ability to take over a game offensively. He\u2019s averaged 23.0 points per game since 2019-20 and scored 30 or more points <em>60<\/em> times in that stretch. Yet, he\u2019s also keenly aware of how to play off of more talented teammates.<\/p>\n<p>That latter point doesn\u2019t separate him from Randle and Kuzma in a vacuum. However, his efficacy off-ball \u2014buoyed by his three-point shooting \u2014does. The North Carolina native isn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davishu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hubert Davis<\/a> out there, but he\u2019s generally consistent. In fact, he\u2019s made 37.0 percent of his threes over the past eight seasons. For comparison, Randle has rained in just 33.7 percent of his three-point attempts in that span. Kuzma has converted 33.6 percent of his threes.<\/p>\n<p>At the other end, the key has always been motivating Ingram to play hard on defense. He\u2019s not always going all-out at that end; it\u2019s simply not his nature. However, he\u2019s taken more pride in his defense over the years, and that\u2019s important. Part of a coach\u2019s job is to find the right way to prod players and coax out their potential. Someone that\u2019s self-motivated makes that task a lot easier.<\/p>\n<h4>Life Without LeBron James<\/h4>\n<p>If there\u2019s one last benefit to trading for Ingram, it\u2019s that he helps them survive life without James.<\/p>\n<p>This season, though James wants to play all 82 games, it\u2019s possible that he doesn\u2019t due to rest or injury. He may or may not get to choose which games those are, and any given absence could be during an important matchup. Having Ingram on hand relieves a lot of the potential stress associated with that.<\/p>\n<p>In a big picture view, James will likely be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/14\/lebron-james-retirement-los-angeles-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">retiring after this season<\/a> or the next. Rather than hoping someone will want to sign with them after losing a player of James\u2019s stature, the Lakers can be proactive and have his replacement on the roster already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers have multiple problems right now. Their personnel isn\u2019t quite suited for their defensive scheme. Their offense is overly reliant on soon-to-be 40-year-old LeBron James. Lakers executives Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka take turns trying to solve a whodunnit when they\u2019re the perpetrators. Lakers Among Top Contenders In Brandon Ingram Sweepstakes To [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":110686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,33,4721],"tags":[308,2279,510,168,1128,38,4774,457],"class_list":["post-110639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-trade-rumors","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-jj-redick","tag-julius-randle","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kyle-kuzma","tag-lebron-james","tag-rumors","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110687,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110639\/revisions\/110687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}