The Los Angeles Lakers finally have a new head coach in place so the team’s attention can turn to the 2024 NBA Draft and the upcoming season. First, they must navigate the draft, which is the first of the JJ Redick era. They hold the No. 17 pick, but according to Jake Fisher of Yahoo!the team is willing to trade him if they can acquire a “significant contributor.”
A trade makes sense because they obviously wanted a contributor, but also because they haven’t had much luck with the draft lately. This is actually the second year in a row that they have ranked 17th. Last year they took Jalen Hood-Schifino who only played in 21 games as a rookie and scored a total of 34 points. If they can make the same choice and make it someone like Jerami Grant or Jonas Valanciunas, it’s a no-brainer.
Going back further, the Lakers’ previous first-round pick was Isiah Jackson who was sent to the Indiana Pacers in the five-team Russell Westbrook deal a week after the 2021 draft. So it’s not as if trading a draft pick for a proven asset still works either.
The year before, the Lakers took Jaden McDaniels with number 28 and immediately sent him and Danny Green to Oklahoma City in exchange for Dennis Schroeder. Although Schroeder contributed that season, the Lakers probably would have liked to keep Daniels, who became a great defender and solid contributor for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
According to Fisher, the Lakers could also trade this pick. The New York Knicks and Utah Jazz were mentioned as two teams with lower picks that could be combined in a deal to move up to 17th overall. By going down and adding another pick, the Lakers could then justify taking Bronny James, who is almost nobody. expects to be drafted in the middle of the first round.
So they have a lot of options. They just need to pick the right one and hope that it’s enough to get them out of the play-in tournament and back into the competition.
News Source : www.si.com
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