In more recent Los Angeles Lakers history the NBA Draft has served as more of a tool to gain assets for future trades as opposed to bringing in and developing young talent. But that is with good reason as for much of the past 25 years the Lakers have been competing for NBA Championships and thus, haven’t had the room to really give young players that time to grow.
That doesn’t mean the Lakers haven’t been able to find contributors as the early-to-mid 2000s saw them find the likes of Luke Walton (2003), Sasha Vujacic (2004), Andrew Bynum (2005) and Jordan Farmar (2006), all of whom would play a role in the Lakers’ back-to-back championship run in 2009 and 2010.
While they didn’t make an impact on the Lakers specifically, Javaris Crittenton and Marc Gasol were both drafted in 2007 and then traded away to the Memphis Grizzlies to bring in Pau Gasol which changed the fortunes of this franchise.
The Lakers were at their drafting best between 2014 and 2017 with their scouting department finding talent in all areas of the draft. Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram were all lottery picks. Larry Nance Jr. was a late first-rounder as while Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart technically weren’t drafted by the Lakers, they were acquired in draft day trades. Ivica Zubac was a great find in the second round, as was Jordan Clarkson who was also a draft day trade acquisition.
The majority of these young pieces were traded and found their best success elsewhere, however those deals set up the team’s 2020 NBA Championship with Nance, Clarkson and Russell all helping to clear space to sign LeBron James while Ingram, Ball and Hart were dealt to bring in Anthony Davis.
The drafting of Dalton Knecht in 2024 is also one of their best as the talented sharpshooter brought a much-needed floor spacing element to the team and of course, also Bronny James, son of LeBron who would make history as the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA.
Every Lakers NBA Draft pick since 2000
2000: Mark Madsen (29th overall pick)
2002: Chris Jeffries (27)
2003: Brian Cook (23), Luke Walton (32)
2004: Sasha Vujacic (27), Marcus Douthit (56)
2005: Andrew Bynum (10), Ronny Turiaf (37), Von Wafer (39)
2006: Jordan Farmar (26), Cheikh Samb (51)
2007: Javaris Crittenton (19), Sun Yue (40), Marc Gasol (48)
2008: Joe Crawford (58)
2009: Toney Douglas (29), Patrick Beverley (42), Chinemelu Elonu (59)
2010: Devin Ebanks (43), Derrick Caracter (58)
2011: Darius Morris (41), Andrew Goudelock (46), Chukwudiebere Maduabum (56), Ater Majok (58)
2012: Robert Sacre (60)
2013: Ryan Kelly (48)
2014: Julius Randle (7), Jordan Clarkson (46)
2015: D’Angelo Russell (2), Larry Nance Jr. (27), Anthony Brown (34)
2016: Brandon Ingram (2), Ivica Zubac (32)
2017: Lonzo Ball (2), Kyle Kuzma (27), Josh Hart (30), Thomas Bryant (42)
2018: Mo Wagner (25), Isaac Bonga (39), Svi Mykhailiuk (47)
2019: Talen Horton-Tucker (46)
2020: Jaden McDaniels (28)
2021: Isaiah Jackson (22)
2022: Max Christie (35)
2023: Jalen Hood-Schifino (17), Maxwell Lewis (40)
2024: Dalton Knecht (17), Bronny James (55)
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