Are you?
They won 35 games this year with a core of first and second year players leading the way. Ingram missed 23 games, Ball missed 30.
We are talking 3 years from now. These guys will improve and at least a couple other West teams ahead of them will fall apart. And yet you are implying it is crazy to say they project to be a low end playoff team worth their current core in 2021 after 2 years of learning from LeBron? is that really far fetched? Cmon now.
Exactly. The Lakers were extremely cautious with the young guys, especially Ingram and Ball. This season was about development, not wins. The Lakers said this before the season even started.
Had the season been about wins, Lonzo and Ingram wouldn't have missed nearly as many games and the Lakers likely finish around 40+ or so wins which would have put them at least on the edge of the playoff hunt.
People also seem to want to forget, that if Lebron comes to the Lakers, he's not coming by himself. So, even if he left or retired after 2-3 years, they still have whoever comes with him (presumably PG).