In five days, the Los Angeles Lakers will know if they have a first round pick this year or not. After the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday night, if their pick remains in the top three, they will retain it. If not, it belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers.
That will prove to be a crucial moment in the offseason, but the Lakers are keeping themselves busy while they wait for it to come.
After starting their scheduling of workouts by inviting UC Irvine’s Mamadou N’Diaye and Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, the latter’s teammate has reportedly received an invite from the Lakers as well, according to Nathan Baird of the Journal and Courier.
IU's Troy Williams said he has workouts scheduled with Pacers, Lakes and Clippers. Still "50-50" on whether he stays in draft.
— Nathan Baird (@nbairdjc) May 12, 2016
Williams fits the theme of the other two players that have reportedly been invited to workout for the Lakers, seeing as they are not projected to be in their draft range next month. Los Angeles could potentially have a top-three pick, along with the No. 32 pick in the draft.
Like N’Diaye and Ferrell, Williams is projected to be a late second round pick if he even gets drafted at all, meaning he could be another option for the Lakers in the undrafted free agent pool. DraftExpress currently has Williams ranked 84th on their big board.
As Baird noted, Williams can still elect to return to Indiana by the May 25 deadline for early entry candidates. If he goes that route, he will look to build off a season that saw him average 13.3 points and 5.8 rebounds on 51.3 percent shooting overall and 34.7 percent from three.
The Lakers are certainly casting a wide net with this year’s draft class, as they should. Los Angeles has invited some of the lower ranked prospects in for workouts while interviewing some of the top prospects in attendance at the NBA Draft Combine on Thursday.
The picture will be painted a lot clearer for the Lakers on Tuesday night, but they are obviously preparing for every scenario that could unfold for them during the 2016 NBA Draft.
All stats courtesy of DraftExpress.
