Fans in Laker land breathed a collective sigh of relief when they found out they would in fact keep their 2017 draft pick, which turned out to be the number two selection overall. Landing in the top three also allowed the Lakers to keep their 2019 selection, which would have gone to the Orlando Magic had the ping pong balls not gone in their favor.
However, there's no guarantee the Lakers will keep either pick going forward, as reports have surfaced that the team may try to package one of them to shed the contracts of Luol Deng and/or Timofey Mozgof in an effort to clear cap space and make a run at Paul George.
Appearing on The Chris Mannix Show, NBA top insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that this is a very likely scenario for the Lakers moving forward.
“If they want to get off Luol Deng’s contract or Mozgov – Mozgov is the more likely deal – let’s say a team like Brooklyn who has lots of cap space and needs picks; Brooklyn will be out there on the market looking at teams who have a bad contract they want to get off but only if they attach a good young player or a draft pick. If LA feels they can get in there and get Paul George next year, having the pick maybe allows them to get contracts off. Because otherwise, no one’s taking Mozgov or Deng’s deals off of you.”
While this certainly makes sense considering George has been linked to the Lakers all season long, it would be somewhat puzzling if the Lakers traded the second overall pick just to shed the contract of one of their 2016 free-agent mistakes. It would, however, make more sense for the Lakers to trade one of their young guards like Jordan Clarkson or D'Angelo Russell in a soon-to-be crowded backcourt that could feature either Lonzo Ball or Markelle Fultz.
We'll just have to sit back, and see if Magic can work his magic.
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