The 2022 NBA Draft is just a few weeks away, and the Los Angeles Lakers will not have any picks.
They traded away their first-round pick to the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2019 Anthony Davis deal, and as part of that trade, L.A. sent its second-round pick for this year to the Washington Wizards.
Still, the Lakers have been actively working out a number of draft prospects, which has helped lead to rumors that they are looking to somehow acquire a second-round pick in this year’s draft.
General manager Rob Pelinka acknowledged recently that they are indeed looking to do just that (fast forward to 3:38 in the video below).
"Ham was the unanimous choice." Rob Pelinka spoke with @Mike_Bresnahan about the front office's decision to hire Darvin Ham as the head coach. pic.twitter.com/DeVNzu575z
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) June 6, 2022
“So yeah, one of the intentional sort of philosophical, architectural visions for us is to get younger and Coach Ham has a passion for developing players. So it would be a goal for us to try to somehow get into the second round to get a young player that we can develop. We’ve had great success if you look at our draft history and the guys we’ve drafted and developed. We think we can do it again in 2022 if we can pull off a trade to get a pick.”
L.A. has had plenty of success with second-round draft picks in recent years. Three years ago, it acquired the rights to guard Talen Horton-Tucker, who had been the 46th selection in that year’s draft.
Horton-Tucker is still developing, but people around the league still feel he has value and upside moving forward.
Also, back in 2014, the Lakers acquired the rights to Jordan Clarkson, who had been taken with the 46th pick that year, from the Wizards for cash.
Clarkson has since gone on to win the Sixth Man of the Year award.
