With a front office mired in chaos, it is tougher than ever to try and predict what the Lakers will do in the 2019 NBA Draft. The Lakers received the fourth pick following the draft lottery, moving up seven spots, and can do any number of things with it. Trading up, down, and out of the draft entirely are all in play.
The Lakers, despite their best efforts this past month to undo everything, are in a great spot. They have a forward-minded new head coach, a plethora of cap space, perhaps the greatest player of all time, and now, they are in possession of a high lottery draft pick.
The Lakers obviously will not be able to draft the premier player in this class, Zion Williamson. However, they will be among the first few teams to pick out a favorite from the rest of the class that is filled with intrigue.
Names like Jarrett Culver, Ja Morant and Darius Garland top the list, but there are many other potential players that could wear the purple and gold next season. On the other hand, the pick could be traded before the draft or even after the organization selects a player, with their projected $6.3 million salary a valuable ballast in negotiations to acquire a star.
Luckily for you, we have you covered. Listed below we will have some player profiles on potential future Lakers, a workout tracker dedicated to listing players that the Lakers officially announce for in house scouting and at least one roundtable on potential trades that the Lakers can make with their pick.
We will be updating everything in this article as we go deeper into the process, so be on the lookout for updates on the team’s draft process.
Workout Tracker
Here you’ll find every player to officially work out for the Lakers in the pre-draft process. We have included their basic stats from their last season playing basketball as well as their projected draft position on DraftExpress at the time of their workout.
Profiles
Every draft profile we write on prospects from now until the 2019 NBA Draft will be accessible here. Make sure to keep coming back to read the ones you missed!
Getting Morant or especially Reddish would be great for the Lakers talent pool, but there are so many systemic issues with the front office, coaching staff, as well as certain dysfunctional elements within the players, that the Lakers are looking like they won’t even be the best team in LA, let alone the Pacific division, or the Western conference.