With one of the top drafts of the 2017 NBA Draft, let’s recap how each of the Los Angeles Lakers’ three first round picks have performed this season.
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the 2017-18 NBA season with one of the youngest rosters in the league. With an average age of 24.25 years old before the season, the Lakers constructed their team to give their young players excess minutes while pairing them with veterans on cheap, short-term deals (besides Luol Deng) that are off the books after this season.
Expectations were low, but the organization isn’t concerned about immediate contention as long as promise is shown by the young crop of players.
The improvements made by all their younger talent, such as Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle, have been pleasant. Clarkson has developed into an efficient, volume scorer off the bench for the Lakers, maintaining his scoring production in fewer minutes. Randle still has his offensive limitations, but has become a strong, versatile defender that makes a visual impact on the game when his motor is running.
Brandon Ingram has arguably been the Lakers’ best player in his second NBA season, showing an advanced ability to use his length to finish around the rim to add to his defensive and playmaking potential. Even Larry Nance Jr. has shown signs of finding his way in the NBA, starting most of the season when healthy and flying around the court.
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Despite Lakers players improving from seasons past, the hype around this team coming into the campaign (and their future) was their rookie class. The Los Angeles Lakers’ first round picks of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart should be viewed as a major haul for the organization.
Ball is the obvious headliner with his style of play and passing vision, but Hart and Kuzma have been better than advertised, especially Kuzma, who leads the Lakers in scoring and seems like the steal of the 2017 NBA Draft.
With Hart finally stringing together a decent sample size, I went ahead and recapped how they’ve performed in the first portion of their rookie seasons. Fellow rookie Thomas Bryant has only appeared in four minutes this season (and they came recently), so his G League promise and outlook can be viewed here. Let’s begin our rookie recap with Josh Hart, the final selection of the first round.