That is the belief of ESPN’s NBA reporter Rachel Nichols.
Ingram’s future is a popular topic currently because his numbers when sharing the court with LeBron, compared to when playing without him, are drastically different.
The Lakers’ lack of shooters and their failure to get their No 1 and No 2 best players on the roster working effectively alongside each other have seen LA told to make moves before the trading deadline.
One popular option is that of Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal, who the Wizards are willing to offload as they look to blow up their current team and rebuild.
Beal is renowned for elite shooting and would massively help out LeBron, but the Lakers are reluctant to part with young assets such as Ingram in order to bring the All-Star in.
That’s because Magic Johnson and co. have long-term plans to recruit the likes of Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis and build a super-team of their own to down the Golden State Warriors, who have won three of the last four championships and are odds-on to win the title again this year.
Davis, however, cannot become a free agent until the summer of 2020 – though he can sign a super-max contract next July, projected to be worth $230million – which would represent the largest deal in the history of the league.
But New Orleans are 10-11 and there is a real chance Davis could turn down the offer in order to move on the following year, which would seemingly force the Pelicans to trade Davis in order to gain assets in return as opposed to losing such a key player for nothing.
And while there is no indication Davis will leave the Pelicans – as of yet – Nichols believes the Lakers’ chances of beating the Boston Celtics to the 25-year-old depend on Ingram realising his potential.
The Jump host Nichols told ESPN: “Here’s the bottom line – if Anthony Davis becomes available this summer because he declines to sign a super-max contract with the Pelicans, there will be a bidding war for his services between old rivals [Lakers president of basketball operations] Magic Johnson and [Celtics president of basketball operations] Danny Ainge.
“Ainge, right now, has more in his wallet than Magic does.
“Magic needs to hope – if, if, if, that’s if people, I didn’t say when – that situation comes up that Ingram who is now worth $100 becomes worth $1,000 in the wallet.
“And so that needs to happen for them by the end of the season.
“We’re not seeing it so they need to look at those on and off numbers to stagger them a little bit more.”
Celtics’ TV play-by-play announcer Mike Gorman – who has been in the role since 1981 – has indicated that Boston would trade anyone in order to land big man Davis.
He told 98.5 The Sports Hub’s ‘Toucher and Rich’: “Anthony Davis is a once-in-a-generation player.
“I think Danny (Ainge) would probably tell you he’s the best player in the league. So if you’re going after the best player in the league, then everybody has got to be eligible to be traded.
“Ideally, the Celtics would like to have Kyrie [Irving] and Anthony Davis playing together.
“But then that probably means you’re giving up a [Jayson Tatum]. That’s going to be difficult for the Celtics to come up with a combination that makes everyone happy.
“But I can tell you, I know the Celtics – and I feel the same way as them – really would like to see Anthony Davis in a Boston uniform.”