5 Los Angeles Lakers Storylines To Follow In 2016-17

What Does The Future Hold For Nick Young?

Since the end of last season, the Lakers have seemed bent of getting rid of Nick Young before the 2016-17 campaign kicked off. That hasn’t happened yet, and I’m not entirely sure it will before October 26.

This preseason, Young has actually been a quality contributor for Los Angeles. He’s obviously outperformed Ingram, and stepped in for Deng when a knee injury sidelined him. While it’s still not a guarantee he’ll make the final roster, I’m sure Luke Walton is thinking long and hard about keeping him around.

Obviously there are some things going against Young. He’s a wildly inconsistent wing who is overpaid and carries more baggage than this evolving Lakers team would like to deal with. Young is extremely streaky as a scorer, and just doesn’t seem to fit into the picture as Los Angeles tries to turn the page on the Kobe era.

Still, the Lakers may need him–at least in the short term. With Deng being a durability concern and Ingram coming along slowly, it may be best to have a veteran presence like Young on the wing.

If Young does make the final roster, I wouldn’t anticipate the Lakers playing him too much. However, it may be in their best interests to give him some minutes. He may even play well enough to convince a desperate team to make a trade…