Lakers Draft: Team Prefers Emmanuel Mudiay If They Go Small

As we crawl toward the draft, speculation on whomever the Los Angeles Lakers might draft will drive many a click. Today, it was Kevin Ding doing so on which point guard would fit alongside Kobe Bryant. Here he is in a video for Bleacher Report:

“No question, (Emmanuel) Mudiay is the guy. If you want to line somebody up next to Kobe Bryant, you don’t want duplication of what Kobe does…”

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

Now, Ding was specifically asked a question and it would’ve been rude not to answer it, but this is pretty telling of where the organization and Kobe are currently. What makes is all the more interesting was that it coincidentally dropped on the same day Mitch Kupchak mentioned Bryant and his future with the Lakers and in the NBA in an interview with Sirius Radio.

“He has indicated to me that this is it,” Kupchak said Thursday in a radio appearance with SiriusXM NBA Radio. […]

“I think first and foremost, he’s on the last year of a deal,” Kupchak told SiriusXM NBA Radio. “There have been no discussions about anything going forward. I don’t think there will be.”

Again, Ding was only answering the question asked; but that what might work best doesn’t necessarily line up with what’s best for the organization follows a semi-disturbing trend.

Last year, Kupchak had to repeatedly address whether the Lakers would opt for a quicker rebuild so as to ensure Kobe would retire on a playoff contender. Doing so would have been a mistake, and Kupchak opted for the more sustainable, long-term rebuild.

In this case, as Ding himself points out later in that same video, Russell might actually be the better player. If that is true – and there’s really no way of telling this right now as they both are only 19 years old – the choice should be pretty straightforward: Take the best player available, regardless of how they might fit alongside Kobe, who might ride into that California sunset next year anyway.