The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of their 2021 NBA Draft preparation as they have been busy interviewing and working out prospects.
With the No. 22 overall pick, the Lakers are in a position to draft someone who can help during the 2021-22 season or develop down the line. Los Angeles is in dire need of another 3-and-D wing who can shoot from the outside, which explains why they interviewed Virginia’s Trey Murphy at the 2021 NBA Draft Combine.
Following up on their interview, the Lakers brought in Murphy along with several other players for a workout and the forward seemed happy with his performance.
“I would say the workout went pretty well,” Murphy said. “Guys were competing at a really high level and it was a lot of fun out there, definitely one of my harder workouts I would say. There was a lot of running involved, just testing our shape, testing our mental toughness. And it was a really good time getting to meet the staff and the front office, there were a lot of good people in there.”
L.A. is known for their “Lakers Mentality” drill and Murphy admitted that it was a difficult one he wished he had done better at. “Definitely the last drill, the last drill was the mentality drill and it’s a tough one. It’s a really tough one.
“Basically you’re just by yourself going full court, end line to end line, just trying to get buckets or score threes basically. It’s one point for a layup, two points for a midrange and three points for a 3-pointer and you just try to get as high as you can in 90 seconds. Wasn’t too proud of my score, definitely want to do better on that one but still was a good learning lesson.”
Murphy has all the makings of a prototypical wing player in today’s NBA and his stock has risen throughout the draft process. He was originally slotted as a late-first-round pick but there has been buzz he could be taken somewhere closer to the middle of the first roun.
However, if he is somehow available for the Lakers at No. 22, they should not hesitate to take him.
Murphy lays out NBA goals
Almost every young player coming into the league has lofty expectations, and Murphy is no different when he laid out what he hoped to accomplish after being drafted.
“In my first year you obviously can’t control a lot except for your effort and energy and I’m gonna have to learn to make my adjustments. But over time, I want to become an All-Star. I want to be like really good at the game of basketball and I want to win a lot, play for a long time. I really love this game a lot and hopefully I could do that at a high level.”
In addition to Murphy, the Lakers also worked out Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves, Stanford’s Oscar Da Silva, VCU’s Nah’Shon Hyland, Michigan’s Chaundee Brown Jr. and NC State’s DJ Funderburk on Saturday afternoon.
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