Who's the first to go? Julius Randle or Jordan Clarkson?

Both have been great, but are both actual future pieces?

In 2014, the Los Angeles Lakers came out of the NBA Draft as clear winners by drafting Kentucky's Julius Randle with the 7th pick and trading with the Wizards for Missouri's Jordan Clarkson who was selected 46th. Though Randle only played 14 minutes his first season and it took until the second half of the season for Clarkson to make a name for himself, both have been really good gems for the Lakers these last couple of years.

Here we are now in 2017 and both have been faced with odd situations that they are clearly making the best out of. Both Randle and Clarkson are coming off the bench, both averaging just a bit over 20 minutes a game. Coming off a season where Randle averaged 28 minutes while starting and Clarkson was averaging 27 minutes coming off the bench. In terms of morale, this hasn't been a good thing due to the fact that both have been consistently great this early in the season. The biggest question is will these two players be moved? Will one go or will both leave?

When the Lakers drafted Brandon Ingram in 2016, the team had believed they had their core young players of the future. During that same season, a dramatic front office changed with a new plan to boot. With Magic Johnson now clearing house by giving up a good young player in D'Angelo Russell in order to shred Timofey Mozgov's contract, things can continue to look rather tricky for Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson. With the summer of 2018 suppose to be filled with stars across the board like LeBron James and Paul George, Magic has made a declaration that the Lakers will be trying to preserve cap space in order to get two of those key players. Julius Randle is now in his contract year and with motives of getting a higher contract next summer. The Lakers already have failed to extend him earlier in the season, making his situation a little more quirky. Jordan Clarkson is on another boat as he is still under contract but getting paid large dollars.

Julius Randle had lost his starting spot to both Larry Nance Jr and Kyle Kuzma but has been fantastic off the bench, however he has voices frustrations about not starting. Jordan Clarkson has received less minutes than he has usually had when playing with or behind D'Angelo Russell than he does now with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lonzo Ball. Both have been pretty good however with Randle averaging 12.2 points and 6.7 rebounds, Clarkson averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists in only 20.3 minutes of playing. Could their trade value be rising? So who is the first to be gone?