The Los Angeles Lakers are a team that had a subpar season last year. Even with the presence of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, the team went 33-49 and ended up missing the play-in tournament.
It is clear that the Los Angeles Lakers have been focused on revamping their roster this offseason. They have been focused on getting defensive-minded players to fit Darvin Ham’s coaching style. Notably, there has been a lot of talk about the Lakers potentially moving some of their future draft picks to create a better roster.
The Lakers’ First-Round Picks Are Coveted Around The League
The Los Angeles Lakers are clearly more of a veteran team that only has a short window of contention left. They will likely be a rebuilding team down the line when LeBron James and Anthony Davis are on another franchise or older.
As such, it seems as though future Lakers’ first-round picks are viewed as highly valuable trade assets. A report by Sean Deveney of Heavy.com relayed the words of an NBA executive, who suggested that the two Lakers’ picks are the “most powerful” picks in the league.
The two Lakers’ picks are the most powerful thing as far as picks go in the league right now. Everyone expects them to be top picks and if you can get them unprotected, everybody wants those. The Lakers only want to give up one and now you have to be thinking, if you’re the Lakers, OK, (Malik) Beasley and Bogdanovic and Jarred Vanderbilt for one of these picks and Russ? Or, you know, Clarkson or Conley in there? You’re going to want three of those five players, give up Westbrook and only deal off one of the picks. Danny might get more picks if he sells those off individually but he is not going to get better picks, and that is the thing the Lakers have as an advantage.
It remains to be seen if the Los Angeles Lakers are able to find a suitable deal in which they end up moving both of their available first-round picks. The Lakers were reportedly willing to move two first-round picks for star point guard Kyrie Irving, but the Nets weren’t interested in that arrangement.
Hopefully, though, we see the Los Angeles Lakers find success in making a championship-level team around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. That duo has shown that they can win on the highest stage, and we’ll see if they manage to win another championship in the future.
