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Lakers Rumors: Mitch Kupchak Not Interested to Trade Young Players

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak talked about his desire to keep the young players for the remainder of the season and Nick Young's resurgence as an important part of the team.

In an interview with Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, Kupchak expressed enthusiasm about the young core he has formed the past three years. He believes their scouting team has done an amazing job finding players such as Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell, Larry Nance and Brandon Ingram.

While Croatian big man Ivica Zubac is back and forth in the D-League, he has no doubt the youngster has a bright future ahead him, mainly because of the raw talents he currently possesses.

With regards to trading one or a package of these young players, Zubac hasn't ruled it out, yet he has no problem if the core group sticks around until the end of the season.

Kupchak to Pincus of Bleacher Report:

"We're fun to watch. We're very competitive. We love our coaching staff. We love our young players. We're going to have to be a little patient. We're going to have to do our job, which is to look at opportunities that may come up in the next month or two. And if there are none - which is fine with me, because I like the young guys on the team - then during the offseason, we'll have to look at opportunities."

Meanwhile, Kupchak was asked how surprised he is to see Young having a career revival after two mediocre seasons under Byron Scott.

"In training camp, clearly the biggest surprise was how quickly Nick fit in. You can see that we desperately miss what he brings to the team. I know that's a surprise for a lot of people to hear me say that because we didn't expect the kind of contribution. He's really dedicated himself to be the kind of player that fits into this system, and he's one of our best on-ball defenders."

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