Lakers With No. 7 Pick Do Not Have Many Options

It does not matter if the Los Angeles Lakers are having a successful season or not. The team always is in the headlines on the sports page and today is no exception.

Huge questions now loom over the heads of Lakers’ management after the club landed a disappointing No. 7 pick in this June’s NBA draft.

Management, players and fans alike were hoping that Los Angeles, with a 21.5% possibility would have landed a pick in the top-three. Those hopes went unanswered. Now the hopes of landing a top three player like Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins or Joel Embiid are out of the picture.

The lottery scrambles the order of picks as well as tries to eliminate the tanking mode some teams have put themselves in over the last month of a season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers landed the No. 1 pick even though they a 1.7% likelihood of doing so and shook up the entire draft.

Draft surprises will now await the Lakers fans, as they are not even sure who a good pick will be at No. 7.

Dante Exum an Australian, who is just 18 looks to go at No. 4 to Orlando or could last until the Lakers at No. 7. Another prospect possibly still around at No. 7 will be Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart, a talented yet temperamental type.

Aaron Gordon one of the best defensive players in the nation at Arizona could also be there for the Lakers when their pick rolls around.Management for Los Angeles had hoped on landing a top-three pick. Nevertheless, they like 8 or more players in this year’s draft.

Besides Gordon and Smart, the Lakers like Noah Vonleh a power forward from the Indiana Hoosiers. Julius Randle the scoring machine for the Kentucky Wildcats is also high on management’s minds in LA.

The Lakers are impressed with Vonleh. He has a wingspan of 7’4”, which is equal to that of Embiid. His athleticism is not quite as good as Embiid’s is.

Following lots of speculation about a possible trade for Kevin Love, it look as though if a trade were made by the Lakers now it would not by for Love, but to move up to a top-three pick to land Embiid.

If Wiggins is taken by Cleveland and Milwaukee takes Parker, the 76ers have Nerlens Noel at center and will not need Embiid.

However, before any trade is made, the Lakers need to have something to offer and the No. 7 pick is not high enough.

It is difficult to believe the Lakers could but a package together that is good enough to land Love or a pick in the top 3.

When all the dust settles, it is likely the No. 7 pick will be in the Lakers hand when the time comes to make the pick and one of Gordon, Exum, Vonleh, Randle and Smart should be available for the Lakers.

Regardless of whom the Lakers draft at No. 7, that player and the rest of the Los Angeles organization will have to work hard to compete over the next few years.

Can you say – REBUILDING.