The 2025 NBA Draft takes place on June 25 and 26, marking the next major event for teams who have already been eliminated from the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers, though, don’t have much work to do in preparation for the draft, as they are currently only slated to have the No. 55 overall pick in the second round.
Their first round pick is being used by the Atlanta Hawks, who received that pick from the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s the final pick associated with the Anthony Davis trade made back in 2019. So with that, the Lakers select at No. 55, the same slot they used to select Bronny James in the 2024 NBA Draft.
But the 2025 draft is going to have a unique second round, as NIL deals have made returning to college a more attractive option for later selections, thinning out the back half of the player pool, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN:
Not only did we see the lowest number of early-entrant candidates (106) in a decade, but another dozen or so draftable prospects withdrew at the deadline, making this one of the shallowest second rounds we’ve seen in a few years.
NBA teams have expressed surprise and concerns about this development, wondering how effectively they will be able to assemble summer league and G League rosters relative to years past, but most believe this is a temporary bottleneck (one caused by the abnormal amount of money) that will clear in the next year or two as the players who elected to return to school this year exhaust their NCAA eligibility.
This won’t affect teams selecting at the top of the draft. In fact, this is slated to be one of the best top halves of the draft in a few years. But teams in the second round will have a smaller pool to pick from and may not have the talent they usually see. This could especially be true for undrafted free agents, where the Lakers have hit routinely over the last few years.
The Lakers scouting department has proven they can be trusted no matter where they are picking. But finding talent the way they have with late picks and undrafted free agent contracts may not be as easy in 2025.
Lakers’ LeBron James likely to pick up player option
LeBron James has a player option for the 2025-26 season worth $52.6 million that he has to make a decision on by June 29. If he picks that up then he will be under contract for another season with the Lakers. If he declines it though, he will become an unrestricted free agent where he can negotiate a new deal with L.A. or other teams.
While no decision has been made official with still a month to go until the deadline, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on the Pat McAfee Show that James is likely to pick up that player option.
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