The NBA crowd often credits teams like the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs for nurturing young talent. Yet in this conversation, we often overlook the Los Angeles Lakers and their bold decisions.

Steph Curry remains sidelined as the Golden State Warriors host the LA Lakers in a big-ticket regular-season game on Saturday.

The debate never goes away. Every ranking, every metric, every list that touches Michael Jordan sends the basketball world into a familiar spiral. This week, a new Bleacher Report ranking of the top 15 pure scorers of all time put Stephen Curry at number one and Jordan at number three.

Los Angeles sits at 34-24, third in the West and leading the Pacific Division, but the last two weeks have been ugly in ways that make the ledger feel misleading. The Lakers have lost three straight, covered the spread just once in their last seven games ...