Lakers Draft: Top Picks Maneuvering Move to LA

In the weeks leading up to the NBA draft, most draft prospects say things like Stanley Johnson when he told Jay King of MassLive.com at the Draft Combine “I’m the best player in the draft.” Players are instructed by their “people” to say and do the right things to climb as high as they can on that special June day.

"“I don’t know that I should go No. 1. I don’t care. I just want to go to the right environment for me and the right team. I think the hype about No. 1 is more for the fans.”"

– Jahlil Okafor, for some reason, in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Maggie Gray.

Thing is: the penthouse appears to have been built on the second-to-top floor.

-== How The Top 5 NBA Prospects Fit With The Lakers ==-

Almost immediately after the ping pong balls bounced in the Lakers’ favor, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski began speculating on how Karl-Anthony Towns might force his way to the Lakers.

Combine that with Okafor’s – err – interesting proclamation and the Minnesota Timberwolves appear to have quite the issue on their hands. Today’s athlete is smart enough to understand that the title of number one overall pick has less value than a career in the Los Angeles spotlight.

I’m obviously sounding like the elitist Lakers mouthpiece social media tends to hate as much as any other character, but you can’t ignore these signs.

To make this all the more interesting, Okafor is the prospect Flip Saunders, general manager of the aforementioned Timberwolves reportedly prefers over all others. That’s about as a tragic a sequence of events as one could find after winning the NBA lottery.

A popular refrain in NBA circles is that there are few things more intimidating than the Lakers with cap space. How about the Lakers with cap space, and a top two pick with all the prospects falling over themselves to land in Tinseltown?

Here’s a fun story: upon buying the Lakers in 1979, Jerry West told Jack Kent Cooke the purchase would not be finalized until Cooke agreed to draft Earvin “Magic” Johnson in the following draft. Cooke obviously obliged.

Now, the scenario is essentially turned on its head. Buss was so successful in building the Lakers into a super power that guys are willing to pass on the honor of being selected first overall.

To take that a step further, if we continue to see stories and reports like Towns and Okafor from other prospects, it wouldn’t shock me to start hearing rumors of Minnesota floating that top pick out in trade scenarios. Yes, players are still required to play for the team that drafts team, but if you’re selecting first, you should feel comfortable that the player you take is capable of being the face of your franchise.

Sounds like whoever the Wolves do take, however, would rather pass on the Land of 10,000 Lakes for Hollywood, just as the entire Lakers franchise did, back in 1958.

Next: Lakers Draft: 3 Potential Scenario At No. 2