Following their 17th Championship victory, it can be easy to forget how it all got started for the Lakers. Before there was Anthony Davis, before there was even LeBron James, there were draft picks and a young core of potential stars, which included Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma.
That group would be credited as being the future of the franchise, and many fans were expecting at least one of them to break out as an NBA All-Star.
Of course, upon reflection of these times, fans pulled up an iconic graphic featured on NBA years ago, in which they gave the results of a fan-voting survey that asked which young core would have the most All-Star appearances.
3 years ago pic.twitter.com/hHVg8rCRHU
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 18, 2021
Ingram came last with 4%, while Kuz came in first with a whopping 48% of the vote. Funnily enough, mots would argue that Ingram is the best of the four players now, while Kuzma is the worst. Naturally, fans were quick to point this out.
Funny how Kuzma is the most ass now out of the 4 pic.twitter.com/ceRcdftcoS
— KD’s Burner 🐐 (@KD_SZN7) April 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/Officialj0nn/status/1383879444251627525
to be fair Kuzma would prolly be alot better by now if he had his own team… idk if he would be better than any of them but he would most likely be close
— Jœ Shmœ (@BrickChubb) April 18, 2021
With all due respect laker fans really thought kuz was better than Tatum
— Mark Jackson’s Burner (@casualtakeking) April 18, 2021
48% has the ring lmao
— LakersForDays (@LakersForDays) April 18, 2021
This is why I’ve never and I’ll never believe in the HYPE!!!
— KRS-TWO (@Dwagg_) April 19, 2021
Honestly, it’s never easy to predict which young studs will make the leap to stardom. While Kuzma is an NBA Champion, he didn’t turn out nearly as good as everyone thought he’d be.
As for Ingram, well, he proved many wrong with how he has grown as a player.
You really just never know, and this old graphic proves the unpredictability that is the development of young talent.
And while the Lakers ended up with the worst of the four, it all worked out for them in the end, seeing as they’re currently on a mission to repeat as NBA Champions.
