The 2024 NBA Draft kicks off on Wednesday evening, and the Los Angeles Lakers are armed and ready to go with two picks – No. 17 overall in the first round and No. 55 overall in the second round.
With the Lakers being in win-now mode considering where LeBron James and Anthony Davis are at in there careers, there has been talk about the Lakers trading the 17th pick to add a win-now veteran to the roster. Beginning on draft night, the Lakers will have three tradable first-round picks at their disposal for the first time.
The Lakers were in a similar position last year and decided to keep their pick, selecting Jalen Hood-Schifino, who was not able to contribute at all during his rookie season. There were plenty of other rookies in that area that had strong campaigns though, including Dereck Lively II, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Brandin Podziemski and Cason Wallace. So if L.A. feels it can get the pick right this time, then the organization will have a cost-effective rotation player for years to come to develop with the rest of their young core.
Rob Pelinka spoke at head coach JJ Redick’s introductory press conference about the desire to bring in young talent and develop them with the new CBA essentially requiring them to do so. With that being the case, Adrian Wojnarowski reported on ESPN’s NBA Draft Preview show that the plan 24 hours ahead of the draft is to keep the pick:
“The plan right now is to keep 17. They’re drilling down tonight trying to get a sense of what’s happening in front of them in the draft.”
Some potential options that have been linked to the Lakers at 17 include Zach Edey, Ron Holland, Devin Carter, Isaiah Collier, Tristan da Silva, Yves Missi and DaRon Holmes II.
L.A. is said to be looking to address the center position in some form, making Edey, Missi and Holmes all logical options if they keep the pick.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis want Lakers to trade pick?
Recent reports have indicated that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are lobbying for the Lakers to go ‘all-in’ and trade picks to add another All-Star caliber player to the organization.
James has still not decided on his future and could potentially becoming a free agent next week, so Rob Pelinka will surely be feeling pressure to put together a championship-caliber roster that will convince the 39-year-old to stick around. Even if the Lakers draft a player at 17, they can still trade their 2029 and 2031 first-rounders as well as some swaps.
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