Lakers front office needs to start valuing draft picks

Take a look at the championship contenders around the NBA right now, and one will see a good amount of superstars and key players who have been “home-grown.”

The Golden State Warriors have Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. The Phoenix Suns possess Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. The Boston Celtics boast Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Green, the Milwaukee Bucks have raised Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Philadelphia 76ers have been patient with Joel Embiid.

The common thread? All of them were drafted by the team they play for.

Furthermore, all those men, other than Ayton, have been All-Stars, but not all of them were lottery picks.

To seriously contend for an NBA championship these days, a team needs to draft well. Plus, there have been signs that the “superteam” era is coming to an end.

Look no further than the Los Angeles Lakers’ failed attempt at having a superteam this season, and the Brooklyn Nets’ own disappointing season.

None of the stars the Nets have had the last couple of years (Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden or Ben Simmons) were drafted by the organization.

In recent years, L.A. has traded away a number of draft picks. They got away with it in 2020, winning the world championship, although there will always be a lingering perception that it was a “lucky” championship or that it doesn’t fully count because it took place inside the Walt Disney World Resort bubble.

If L.A. is to return to the championship level soon, it needs a philosophical shift when it comes to draft picks.

The Lakers have been giving away draft picks for years

When the Lakers missed the playoffs annually several years ago, they had a number of high draft picks, which they turned into good players such as Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball.

But once LeBron James arrived, the team went into win-now mode, and draft picks became a causality of that mindset.

In 2019, they traded their top pick in that year’s draft, which became De’Andre Hunter, as well as multiple other first-round picks in the future, in the deal that brought them Anthony Davis. It was perfectly fine, despite Davis’ tendency to get injured, as he is a truly unique player on both ends of the floor.

Trading for a superstar, even if it requires giving up picks, is acceptable. After all, it’s what the Lakers did in 1975 to land Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In 2020, after winning it all, L.A. sent its first-round pick that year, along with wing Danny Green, to acquire point guard Dennis Schroder. The move seemed solid at the time, as Schroder was young and was projected to somewhat relieve James’ duties.

Unfortunately, Schroder left as a free agent at the end of the season, which meant that the Lakers essentially gave up that pick for nothing.

Then came the move that most consider a huge blunder: Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and a 2021 first-round pick for Russell Westbrook.

At that point, the team’s habit of giving up first-round draft picks had reached overkill status.

As it is, the Lakers will have very few draft picks for the rest of this new decade. That will present a problem, as James is 37 years of age, and although Davis is only 29, he could always choose to leave once James does so himself.

At that point, L.A. won’t be able to rebuild through the draft for a while.

The irony for the Lakers

Interestingly enough, the Lakers have actually done a very good job of drafting in recent years, provided they actually had picks to use.

Randle has become a bona fide star, as has Ingram. Russell and Ball may not be stars, but both are good, solid pieces to have.

One can argue that the Lakers made a big mistake in 2017 by taking Ball instead of Tatum or Donovan Mitchell, but other than that, their drafting record has been very strong.

The key here is that they have also made the most of low draft picks, especially in the second round. Such picks have yielded diamonds in the rough such as Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Ivica Zubac.

In 2019, the team acquired the 46th pick in that year’s draft, which had been used by the Orlando Magic to take Talen Horton-Tucker, for cash and a future second-round selection in 2020.

However, the Lakers jettisoned all of those men, save for Horton-Tucker, whom they have tried to trade dating back to last season.

Sometimes, trading a few draft picks or young prospects is unavoidable when a superstar such as Davis is available. But getting rid of all or most of them ends up shortening a team’s competitive window.

Have the Lakers finally learned their lesson?

Reportedly, the team looked into sending Westbrook and at least one future first-round pick to the Houston Rockets prior to the trading deadline for former All-Star John Wall. Reportedly, Klutch Sports, James’ agency, and the Lakers’ coaching staff pushed for the trade to happen.

But it didn’t.

Now, the team is reportedly reluctant to part with either its 2027 or 2029 first-round pick, the only two it can legally trade this offseason.

Via Lakers Daily:

Even if general manager Rob Pelinka has indeed learned his lesson about how important draft picks are, he has made his bed, and as a result, he will have very limited resources to use for the next several years.

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