After officially inking Luke Walton to a five-year deal, the Los Angeles Lakers rebuilding process is now in full swing. The Lakers brass now marks its calendar for the NBA Draft Lottery as they prepare for the next vital step that could either help or hinder the process this summer.
The Lakers have been fortunate in the draft lottery in each of the last two seasons. In 2014 the team moved down one spot, but did retain their pick and took Julius Randle. Last season the Lakers moved up from the fourth slot to the number two pick and selected D’Angelo Russell.
The Lakers will be looking for some more luck this summer and according to Lakers Reporter Mike Trudell, general manager Mitch Kupchak will be the Lakers’ representative at the NBA Draft Lottery this year:
Mitch Kupchak will represent the Lakers at this year’s Draft lottery. LAL have a 56% chance of getting a Top 3 pick.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 6, 2016
The Lakers currently own a top-three protected pick in this year’s draft. However, if that pick falls out of the top-three then it automatically goes to the Philadelphia 76ers via the Steve Nash trade some years back.
The Lakers do have favorable odds of retaining their pick. With the second-worst record the Lakers have a 55.8 percent chance of keeping the pick, along with a 19.9 percent chance of moving up to number one overall.
Anything can happen in the draft lottery however as just last year the New York Knicks moved down from number two overall to number four. That benefitted the Lakers last season, but if that same move happens this season, the Lakers will not be so fortunate.
While the Lakers are optimistic about their talented young core of players being enticing enough to lure possibly two max-contract players to Los Angeles, a simple bounce of a ping-pong ball could make all the difference in how soon we see the purple and gold back in the playoffs and the world will find out everything on May 17.
