Lady Luck smiled on the Los Angeles Lakers in Tuesday’s draft lottery, an instance that left them with the second overall selection.
The team is widely expected to pick either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor — whichever the Minnesota Timberwolves, owners of the first overall pick, do not take.
What a victory for the Lakers. Was looking like Russell/Mudiay/Winslow. All great. But Okafor/Towns in a different class.
— Bill Oram (@billoram) May 20, 2015
Towns is a defensive powerhouse that could develop into one of the best big men in the NBA; Okafor is a polished post-presence, something the Lakers missed dearly last season. Either player looks to be a good fit for the franchise as the next addition to their young core.
But what about Emmanuel Mudiay?
ESPN’s Chad Ford “ranked him” second on the Lakers’ draft board in a SportsNation chat about a month ago behind only Towns. Fellow ESPN-er Dave McMenamin tweeted that the Lakers are “intrigued” by options outside the two bigs.
Basically, the Lakers aren't locked into K-AT or Okafor no matter what at this point, per source. Intrigued by Mudiay/Russell.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 21, 2015
Mudiay spent what would have been his freshman season in China, and still has near-lock status as a top-five pick.
He’s long been rumored to be a Laker target, but that was before the team struck gold in the 2015 Draft Lottery. And, apparently, they had cooled on the point guard before the Draft Lottery.
I heard coming into the lottery the Lakers were high on Towns, Okafor and Cauley-Stein, not so much on Mudiay.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) May 20, 2015
Conflicting reports aside, the Lakers are clearly going to consider all of their options with the second pick. They need to come away with a solid, foundational piece for the on-going rebuild.
Would the Lakers really think about taking a point guard at No. 2 with so many other needs on their roster?
Next: Numbers Never Lie?