Lakers Trade Rumors: No player ‘safe’ if Magic Johnson wants a star

It would appear the final nail in the coffin for Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak was their inability or lack of desire to move on from the youth movement in favor of DeMarcus Cousins, who was very available but wound up with the New Orleans Pelicans.

So now, as the Buss and Kupchak have been shown the door, the attention shifts to how Magic Johnson views the young assets the Lakers have assembled. In his first appearance after being hired as an “advisor” (ha), he sounded thrilled about the opportunity to work with guys like D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and any other Laker whose name he learned on the way to the set.

And then you get a report like this and it makes you wonder if that was just lip service while Magic had his eye on a potential superstar to speed up the rebuilding process. Who know, really, but this sounds pretty ominous.

The Lakers have only two days before the trade deadline to pull off what would be a blockbuster deal, but with Magic at the helm and the frustration not having traded for Cousins seemingly playing a role in Tuesday’s dismissals, the kids might be worrying about their futures in Los Angeles.