The tanking is complete. The Lakers have assembled a CORE, which means that no more tanking is required. For one, this CORE consists of Ivica Zubac, obviously. He is the first part of the CORE. One only needs to look at his recent performances to come to this conclusion. The second CORE part is D’Angelo Russell. He and Zubac are the first and seconds parts of CORE. HARDCORE. Brandon Ingram is the third part, because even though he sucks at this very moment his CORE-ness is evident. You can’t deny it, even if it is slightly obscured by his dismal shooting percentages.
You can maybe argue that Julius Randle is CORE also, but you can also argue that maybe he isn’t. That doesn’t matter though, because three players is enough for legit CORE status.
If the Lakers wanted to tank one more year, though, I wouldn’t blame them. Having a CORE is great, but it’s still a young CORE that has little chance of unseating the Warriors this season. Imagine this CORE with addition CORE part Lonzo Ball. Are you imagining it yet? Because I am, and it involves lobs to Zubac from Ball, and also lobs to Zubac from Russell, plus some bonus CORE lobs to Zubac from Ingram.
If we are lucky, maybe Zubac will throw some lobs of his own. Lob City 2.0, happening right now, better than ever. Hell yeah.