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Los Angeles Lakers: 2016-17 Season Outlook

By Gerald Bourguet

Mar 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D Angelo Russell (1) celebrates with Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (left) after making a shot during the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Lakers won 107-101. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard D Angelo Russell (1) celebrates with Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (left) after making a shot during the fourth quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center. The Los Angeles Lakers won 107-101. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Los Angeles Lakers
Dec 2, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant (24) celebrates with Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell (1) on the court against the Washington Wizards in the third quarter at Verizon Center. The Lakers won 108-104. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

Predictions

Coming off the worst season in franchise history, it’d take a rash of injuries to send this tantalizing young core to an even worse record in 2016-17. In the first year under Walton and looking past Kobe Bryant for the first time, this is the start of a new era for Los Angeles Lakers basketball, and there’s nowhere to go but up from here.

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It won’t always be pretty, and there will be plenty of growing pains throughout the roster. Deng has never had to mentor such an inexperienced group, the young core has never had the opportunities they’ll enjoy this season, Walton has never dealt with a rebuild like this and Mozgov has never been so overpaid while being expected to perform.

But there are plenty of reasons for optimism as well, even if it’ll be tough for the Lakers to even reach the 30-win threshold this season. The 2016-17 campaign is about internal development, with the franchise taken a path it’s rarely traversed: the long and winding road back to prominence through a full-scale rebuild.

Ingram will struggle to gain traction in the Rookie of the Year race coming off the bench for half the season, but he’ll wind up leaving an impression the more he earns playing time. Russell will continue to grow as a player, but perhaps not as an eventual locker room leader.

Clarkson proves himself as a microwave scoring act, but his true destiny as a sixth man begins to become clearer. Zubac struggles to live up to the Summer League hype he conjured, but puts himself in position to overtake Mozgov’s starting job by his second year.

Next: 2016 NBA Offseason Grades For All 30 Teams

The Lakers make great internal strides, but given the injury-proneness of older guys like Deng and Mozgov and the relative inexperience of the rest of the roster, Los Angeles winds up going 23-59, missing the playoffs by a wide margin and ultimately securing their top-three selection for the loaded 2017 NBA Draft.

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