Magic Johnson assures Luke Walton that Lakers will keep their first-round pick

Magic Johnson is confident that the magic of the ping-pong balls will be in his favor during his first draft lottery as Lakers president of basketball operations.

In a recent appearance on CBS Sports’ “We Need To Talk,” Lakers head coach Luke Walton said that Johnson has all but guaranteed him that the team will be keeping their first-round pick this year.

“Magic has already assured me that we’re going to get our top-three pick this year so I’m excited about that,” said the 37-year-old coach. “We don’t know who the pick is yet, but I was just happy to know we’re getting the pick. That’s good enough for me for now.”

Let the conspiracy theorists emerge from the woodwork.

The Lakers keeping their pick is far from a sure thing — they have the third-best odds in this year’s lottery (which takes place on May 16), giving them an approximately 47 percent chance of picking in the top three. If the pick falls outside of that range, they will have to convey it to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But in the event that the Lakers do land in the top three, we know at least one top prospect is going to be quite happy, and we can probably add Johnson to the list of team greats who have successfully Nostradamus’d the draft lottery.