The city of Los Angeles recently hosted NBA All-Star Weekend and while everything was an overall success, the Lakers did not have a representative in the game itself. This didn’t sit great with Lakers president Jeanie Buss.
Even Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant commented on the oddity of the Lakers failing to put someone in the All-Star Game considering it was played at Staples Center. The team is clearly on the right path with young, promising players like Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Lonzo Ball.
But for a franchise with the history of the Lakers, it had to hurt to not see one of their own on Sunday night. Buss appeared on the The Full 48 with Howard Beck and revealed that she told Adam Silver that she was worried about the Lakers not having an All-Star when they first made the announcement that L.A. would host, calling everything humbling:
“When they announced that we were going to host the game, I said to Adam Silver, this was a couple years ago, ‘I’m worried if the All-Star Game comes here, we may not have an All-Star on the team.’ And that’s exactly the way it played out. I mean, I was really proud of seeing Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram play in the Rising Stars Game. Lonzo Ball was also put on that team but he couldn’t play because of injury. I like to think we’re on the right path to get there, but it’s humbling.”
The Lakers are obviously looking to end that trend of not having a player in the All-Star Game as soon as possible.
Their deal at the trade deadline cleared out enough salary cap space for the team to sign two players to max-contracts, and the Lakers will certainly be active, both this summer and next, to bring in a big name free agent.
Of course, as Buss points out, the Lakers do seem to be on the right path with Ingram, Kuzma, and Ball all having the potential to be All-Stars in the future as well. It could be just a matter of time before the Lakers are back to being represented in the All-Star Game.
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