Los Angeles Lakers: Why it is time to shut down key players

2. Keep the young core healthy for possible trade talks

One of the biggest reasons why the Lakers have not been successful this season is because nearly everything that could have possibly went wrong for the team went wrong. It started with LeBron James, transitioned to Lonzo Ball and even saw Brandon Ingram and now Kyle Kuzma sitting out with injury.

There is no point in playing this last stretch of games with the young core at all. First of all, by the time they are healthy the team is definitely going to be out of playoff talks and more importantly the Lakers should be concerned about the players’ health.

Keeping the young core healthy into the offseason is essential for the Los Angeles Lakers. It is unclear whether or not the team is going to be able to make a trade for a superstar but it is going to be exponentially harder with hurt trade pieces.

Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram have both had their fair share of injury time and Kyle Kuzma hurting himself would only hurt his stock as well. The goal for the Lakers should be to send as few young pieces as possible and injuries just complicate that entire process.

There is a massive risk in playing these guys with a pretty small and unobtainable reward. The Lakers must play the numbers game.