Lakers Not Trading Brandon Ingram is a Hypothetical Not Worth Worrying About

As Brandon Ingram shines in the playoffs, Lakers fans are playing revisionist history with LA trading him to New Orleans.

Brandon Ingram is the latest player to blossom in his post-Lakers career. Ingram has been the best player on a Pelicans playoff team that's deadlocked 2-2 in their series against the one-seed Phoenix Suns. 

The Lakers former second overall pick is averaging 30.8 points per game against the Suns and has cooked any and all of Phoenix's quality wing defenders.

As he thrives in the playoffs, Lakers fans lament about the franchise's decision to trade him in the summer of 2019. 

Just stop.

Has everyone forgotten what trading Ingram brought the Lakers? It brought them superstar big man Anthony Davis and a 2020 championship.

Yes, Davis has fallen apart in the last two seasons, but the "they should've kept Ingram" reeks of recency bias. 

Was anyone saying that as Davis and LeBron were hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy? Was anyone saying that when Anthony Davis dismantled the Nuggets in the 2020 Western Conference Finals like they were LEGOs? Was anyone saying that as Ingram made an All-Star team and led a 30-win Pelicans team in scoring that same season?

The price for the Lakers to acquire Anthony Davis from New Orleans was no doubt steep, but there was no earthly way the deal was happening without Ingram being included. If you want to get mad about the trade, get mad about LA including Josh Hart and a pick swap in the deal.

Not making the trade and waiting until the summer of 2020 to sign Davis in free agency means that the 2020 championship likely never happens.

If fans want to play coulda, would, shoulda, how about the Lakers front office decision to re-tool a roster this past summer that didn't need re-tooling? How about cutting their roster depth to acquire Russell Westbrook and including a first-round pick to do so?

In the last few years, this organization has let Julius Randle walk for nothing, traded veteran wingman Danny Green and a first-round pick to get Dennis Schroder, used their tax payer mid-level exception to sign an injured Kendrick Nunn, and signed Tale Horton-Tucker to a preposterous contract instead of re-signing guard Alex Caruso. A player that they scouted, drafted, and developed and was a major part of their championship DNA!

Don't even get me started on their salary cap and trade exception management.

What if the Rambi weren't involved in any basketball decisions? What if Jeanie Buss was willing to hire capable, experienced people from outside of the "Lakers family"? What if the Lakers had traded for Buddy Hield instead of Westbrook or had signed DeDemar DeRozan on a discount? What if they didn't have to rely on a slew of ancient NBA veterans on minimum contracts to fill out the crostini-thin roster?

Those "what-ifs" are what fans should be talking about. Not playing revisionist history with Brandon Ingram.