A lot was speculated about what the Los Angeles Lakers and their front office would do on draft day, as they owned the second, 27th and 28th picks after acquiring No. 27 in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets.
After taking UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball with the second pick, the Lakers stayed in the Pac 12 at 27, as they decided to go with Utah forward Kyle Kuzma.
Instead of selecting another player at 28, the Lakers completed their first draft day trade, as they swapped No. 28 in exchange for two picks, 30 and 42, in this year’s draft with the Utah Jazz, via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Utah will trade Nos. 30 and 42 to Lakers for No. 28, securing Tony Bradley, league sources tell @TheVertical. https://t.co/wmPNky95N2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 23, 2017
The Jazz went on to pick Tony Bradley of North Carolina at No. 28, while the Lakers took guard Josh Hart out of Villanova with the 30th pick.
Bradley played just one season at North Carolina and won an NCAA National Championship. In 38 games he averaged 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds. At 6 foot 10 inches with a wingspan of 7 foot 5 inches, Bradley’s best attribute is his size. He will need to work on his athleticism if he wants to be a quality NBA player though.
Hart played four years at Villanova and won a National Championship in 2016. The 2017 Big East Player of the Year averaged 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists this past season while demonstrating an ability to shoot from deep, shooting 40.4 percent from three-point range.
At 22-years-old Hart should be able to come in and produce right away for this young Lakers team. Los Angeles still owns one more pick on the night, the 42nd pick in the second round.