2017 NBA Draft: Why the Lakers Should Draft Jayson Tatum
By Eric Brown
If the Lakers fall to the No. 3 spot in the 2017 NBA draft, Duke’s Jayson Tatum should be the pick for Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Lakers currently hold the second-worst record in the NBA, putting them in prime position to keep their top-three protected pick. However, having the second-worst record doesn’t always guarantee a top-two pick. With the misfortune that they do not get a top-two pick, the team will have an array of options of who to draft with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
Many have said all year that it will either be Josh Jackson out of Kansas, or even Dennis Smith Jr. out of NC State, but with Jayson Tatum’s recent play one has to wonder just how well would he fit with the current Lakers and the route they are taking.
Coming into the season, Tatum was one of three highly touted freshmen along with his teammates Harry Giles and Marques Bolden, who were supposed to lead the Blue Devils back to the promise land and win the NCAA Championship yet again. However, the season started in turmoil for Duke as all three freshmen were forced to miss the start of the season with injuries.
Tatum was nursing a severely sprained ankle just weeks before the season began. When he first returned to the sidelines in December, he clearly wasn’t himself. However, once January rolled around and conference play started, something began to click for the young sensation.
Now whether it was just him was finally getting over the injury that hindered him early in the season or he was just simply learning how to play at a different speed of college basketball, the top recruit began to show why everyone fell in love with him in the first place. With Grayson Allen succumbing to the pressure that the media was forcing upon him by his own doing, Tatum stepped into a major role.
If the Lakers could somehow move Timofey Mozgov or Luol Deng’s contracts, it would work out favorably for Tatum as he would get more minutes, allowing him to develop in Luke Walton’s system. Even if Tatum doesn’t play 30 minutes a game as a rookie, the hope is that he would obviously be a key piece of the Lakers future that hopes to eventually contend once again for an NBA Championship.
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The NBA has currently gone the small ball route, and it looks like it is here to stay. With Tatum in the fold, the Lakers could have a dynamic lineup with Russell, Ingram, Tatum, Randle, and Zubac. All of those players, with the exception of Zubac, are very capable of guarding multiple positions and their length could bother smaller players.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Lakers don’t even have a pick yet and we’re all hoping that it’s the No. 1 pick if they do. If it is the No. 1 or No.2 pick, Tatum would be a reach with superstar guard Markelle Fultz and Lonzo ball on the board. Tatum would be a very good consolation pick at No. 3 If you could even call it that.
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But hat do you guys think of drafting Jayson Tatum? Do you think he could be the next elite scorer that the Lakers desperately need? Or should they draft defensive wizard, Josh Jackson?