In honor of the 2022 NBA Draft this week, we here at Lakers Outsiders decided to do another podcast draft, taking turns selecting the best draft picks of all time selected by the team.
This may sound easy when you first think about it, but plenty of all-time Lakers greats did not make our draft due to the franchise’s long and storied history of being able to make blockbuster trades while also being one of the most attractive free-agent destinations in the Association. So that means no LeBron James and Anthony Davis, obviously, but it also rules out players like Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and, yes… Kobe Bryant. We decided to rule him out due to the technicality that he was actually drafted by the Charlotte Hornets with an official trade not being agreed to until about a couple of weeks after the draft.
Our bloggers Donny McHenry, Honi Ahmadian, Chris Walton, and Alex Torres take turns selecting three former Lakers draftees each until we have a pool of 12.
Each of our podcasters was allowed to use their own criteria on why they considered their selections one of the best Lakers picks of all time, with some wild choices being selected as a result. Different criteria included their overall careers, what they specifically did within their careers while wearing the purple-and-gold, their impact as a very low draft pick, or sometimes even what they were able to get for the Lakers as a trade piece used to get a new franchise cornerstone (we have at least a couple of these instances that may surprise people when their names come up).
The Lakers currently do not have any draft picks in this Thursday’s 2022 NBA Draft, however, Rob Pelinka has indicated that the team would like to buy into the second round if it was available to them. Because of that, Donny interviewed draft prospect expert Mike Garcia a week or so ago to get his opinion on some guys the team could target in that range. Go check out that podcast whenever you get the chance.
We’ll see you guys next time.
