After netting a top seven draft pick last year and subsequently starting this season 1-7, the talks of the Lakers possibly tanking game have grown louder. When you consider that the Lakers draft pick is slated to go to the Phoenix Suns should it fall outside the top five, logic begins to say that the team should start losing more games.
However, as has been his stance for the last two seasons, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is adamant that the franchise will not tank games:
"“We would never do that,” he said. “This business doesn’t work that way.”“Our feeling is, you can’t manipulate [the system],” Kupchak said. “It’s bad Karma. First of all, just the whole concept of talking to your coaches and sending a message that, ‘We want to lose,’ it’s just so counter to professional sports and to the way that this organization thinks.”He added, “I don’t even know where you begin. Do you call a coach in and say, ‘Listen, I want to talk to you about something. We’ve got to lose these games.’ And then if that coach leaves your organization in three years, and he says, ‘Yeah, the Lakers wanted to lose …’“I mean, it doesn’t work,” Kupchak said. “And if you did do that, the Karma would be such that you’d probably end up with the 14th pick. But the message to send out is not the right message."
Kupchak seems to have the right message and beliefs behind not tanking. For a franchise so steeped in history with the second most titles in the NBA, anticipating them to tank games could be unreasonable.
As stated in the article, the Lakers actions back Kupchak’s statements when last season, with their draft lottery position in the balance, the Lakers won their final two games of the season, knocking them out of the top five and eventually leading to them slotting in the 7th pick in the draft.
Still, building contenders through the draft has a long history of success. Both the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs are built predominantly of players they drafted as opposed to free agents they signed or players they acquired via trade.
Even looking back at great Lakers teams, players like Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Kobe Bryant were all drafted by LA and played vital roles in title winning teams (aside from Baylor).
Do you think the Lakers should tank this season? Tell us why or why not!