These last two seasons have been a nightmare for the Los Angeles Lakers. Injuries have forced this team to forget about the season at hand and this franchise and its fan base have been forced to look to the draft for a player that can help revive this franchise.
Last year, the Lakers ended up with the seventh pick in the draft and they selected Julius Randle. Unfortunately, he was injured in the first game of the season and won’t be back until next year. This year, it’s a little more complicated.
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The Steve Nash deal helped the Lakers get a two time MVP in purple and gold, but he hasn’t been a factor since being acquired from the Suns. What really hurts is all the draft picks we gave up to land Nash, including this year’s selection. However, it’s top 5 protected, so all the Lakers need to do is end up with the second worst record in the league and they are guaranteed a top 5 pick .
As it stands, the Lakers are 13-36, which is bad enough to be the fourth worst record in the NBA. The Lakers could still land a in the top five, but the chances of falling out increase. The Knicks, Sixers and T-Wolves are right underneath the Lakers in the standings, so the second half of the season will be very intriguing.
For the Lakers, they won’t openly admit they are tanking and for head coach Byron Scott, that’s not even an option. According to Mark Medina of the LA Daily News, Scott believes tanking can backfire and he’s approaching every game with hopes on coming out victorious:
"“I never look at bottoming out. I never look at losing. It’s a bad omen that you try to send a message to lose games to get the very best pick you can get. You still try to go out there and win basketball games, ” Scott said on Friday at morning shootaround at Amway Center. “If you’re not good enough that particular night, then you lose, so be it. To go out there and deliberately try to lose games to get a better pick, that backfires on you.”"
Losing should never be an option, especially for a proud franchise like the Lakers, but what if this is the best case scenario for them to climb back to the top? If the Lakers lose this draft pick to the Suns, that’s one asset they won’t have at their disposal for the next season and the Lakers need all the help they can get.
Scott is a champion and a competitor and he certainly didn’t envision leading the Lakers to one of the worst records in the NBA, but this is what we have come to. The Lakers need an impact player, like Duke big man Jahlil Okafor. If he is as good as advertised, the Lakers might have one of the best backcourts for the next decade. They need to lose and get a little lucky with the ping pong balls.