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Sunday’s NBA draft lottery provided a bit of a surprise and some unfortunate good luck for the Clippers, who saw the Thunder not jump into the top four while also having the Pacers slip, resulting in the other LA team picking fifth.
The Wizards secured the top pick, a familiar place for an Anthony Davis team to be, while the Jazz, Grizzlies and Bulls round out the top of the draft.
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The Lakers knew their spot in the draft some time ago following a coin flip with the Knicks that saw them land at the 25th pick. With the season on the brink of ending and the draft now approaching, let’s take a look at some of the prospects fans can start searching for on YouTube.
In a bit of a spoiler for the rest of these picks, this is the only non-center mocked to the Lakers. However, wings are always a valuable commodity and the Lakers certainly could use more of them.
Here’s what Ricky O’Donnell had to say about this pick:
Jefferson is a big, strong forward who brings two-way ability and rare passing vision for someone his size. He made a nice leap as a shooter this year to get up to 34.5 percent from three (a career-best), but he’ll need to continue to grow in that area. He will add some toughness and rebounding to any frontcourt, and his ball handling and playmaking would let JJ Redick’s coaching staff get creative with his usage.
Friend of Silver Screen & Roll and draft expert Mike Garcia also shared some insights on Jefferson in his recent Substack post.
Simply put, he has an NBA body and reads the floor. He has a sense of confidence with the basketball and just plays poised all the time. It helps he knows exactly where to be and what to anticipate on both ends of the floor. This kind of reading ability, a lot of NBA players don’t reach.
What makes him appealing? He’s just mobile enough to be switchable, but reads the game so well, he’ll likely be neutral defensively as a big wing and possible back up 5 as a rookie, which is an absolutely big deal.
The general consensus is that the Lakers need an athletic, lob-catching center. However, there also might not be that type of player available. Instead,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/2026-nba-mock-draft-roundup-035621074.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-11 03:56:00
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