As they look to flush their 33-49 lemon of a season down the sewer lines, the Los Angeles Lakers appear to have one particular course of action in mind.
Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times reported this week that the Lakers will “aggressively” try to buy their way into the second round of the NBA Draft later this month.
The Lakers do not currently own a pick in the draft. Their first-round pick belongs to the New Orleans Pelicans, courtesy of the Anthony Davis trade. Meanwhile, their 2022 second-rounder went to San Antonio as part of the multi-team Russell Westbrook trade.
On the surface, it may not seem like much that the Lakers are trying to score a second-rounder. But in recent years, they have used their second-round picks extremely wisely, landing eventual rotation players like Ivica Zubac and Talen Horton-Tucker. Another recent Lakers’ second-rounder, Svi Mykhailiuk, was used in a trade for a key role guy in Reggie Bullock.
The Lakers do reportedly have some prominent free agent targets as well. But it could be wise for them to use a multi-pronged offseason attack in which they tap into the draft as an additional means to acquire talent.
