NBA Trade Rumors: L.A. Lakers’ Brandon Ingram, D’Angelo Russell, And Julius Randle Updates

The NBA trade rumors are only going to get hotter as the deadline approaches this February. However, with the 2016-17 NBA season nearing its halfway point, at least one team has given a clear indication of their plans when it comes to their core of young players. The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t necessarily in the playoff picture right now, but the future of the team seems in the hands of young stars Brandon Ingram, D’Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle in the wake of the end of the Kobe Bryant era. Does L.A. have a major trade in store involving one or more of these players, or will they sit tight for now?

In a recent report from Sporting News, it’s noted that that Lakers’ management has no intentions of parting ways with their current core of talented young stars. That includes several top NBA draft picks over the past several seasons, such as Brandon Ingram, D’Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle. That would seem to effectively hush any of those nonsensical rumor reports floating around on the internet with regards to any of the trio being moved to a new city.

To further drive home the fact that these three players are worth keeping around in Los Angeles, a Western Conference scout had glowing remarks about the trio of Lakers future stars.

“If you made a list of the 20 best players who are 22 or under, I think you’d have to have all three of the Lakers’ young guys on there. They’re three of the best young guys in the league. There’s really not a lot of teams can say that, and I think a lot of mediocre teams would like to swap rosters with the Lakers right now.”

The Lakers are currently sitting at 15-27. While they’re not in the top eight teams of the Western Conference playoff standings, they’re also not too far off from the eighth team, Portland, which has an 18-23 record. Los Angeles has gone 3-2 over their last five games, but all three wins came by double digits including a 27-point rout against Miami and a 14-point win over playoff-hopeful Memphis.

All three of the aforementioned Lakers’ players are 22-years-old or younger. While their stats aren’t All-Star caliber just yet, it won’t be surprising to see several of these guys donning the West’s uniforms in coming seasons. In particular, Randle is slowly growing into a nightly double-double machine with his points average at nearly 14 per game, and the rebounds average nearing double digits.

D'Angelo Russell hits Julius Randle with a nice no-look pass #NBAVote (?: @SpectrumSN & @spectdeportes) pic.twitter.com/9MXdUPXFI8

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 13, 2017

For the current season, shooting guard Louis Williams is the team’s leading scorer, per Basketball Reference. However, Russell is second in the overall stats with a scoring average of 15.4 points per game and leads in steals with 1.3 per game. The newer rookie Ingram is eighth on the scoring chart, putting in about eight points a contest. Meanwhile, Randle is currently leading the team with 8.7 rebounds a game and a 49.2 field goal percentage, while also chipping in double-digit scoring and almost four assists per game.

With regards to Russell, a knee injury slowed his current season down from late November to mid-December. Sporting News notes that since the new year, the young guard is averaging a nice stat line of 18.8 points, 5.7 boards, and 5.2 assists per game. Ingram is regarded as full of potential and likely to become the best overall player of the three, but it will take him some time.

The No. 2 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft had back-to-back games with 17 points over the past week, both of which were wins for the Lakers. In the Miami game, he also added six rebounds and four assists to his stat line. While he’s yet to break past a 20-point game, it seems it will become a regular occurrence for this future star, and quite a few triple-doubles will probably start popping up down the road.

In addition to those three young stars, it’s being said that there will be no discussion with teams to deal Jordan Clarkson or Larry Nance, Jr. before the trade deadline either. The only potential assets at this point that Los Angeles might have include a future draft pick around the year 2021, and possibly veteran player like Luol Deng. It’s been mentioned that the Lakers have still participated in attempted trade discussions with the Philadelphia 76ers for Nerlens Noel and the Atlanta Hawks for Paul Millsap, but based on what they have to offer it seems these deals probably won’t come to fruition for L.A.

While there have been plenty of NBA trade rumors suggesting Los Angeles wants to make a major deal, it would seem premature for them to do so using the young stars and potential talent they have on the current roster. The team is still a few seasons away from a playoff appearance, but as the younger stars continue to mature, it seems likely that they will once again be a Lakers team that the rest of the league needs to be prepared for.

[Featured Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images]