Los Angeles Lakers: Lessons from failed super team, longtime rival

Major Implications with the Steve Nash Trade

Philadelphia (and/or Boston) will be laughing if the Lakers fail to reach my goal that I have placed for them at the beginning of the season. Looking back at it, I may have stretched the Lakers’ expectations too far like most of the media before the season.

The Steve Nash trade will haunt the Lakers for years to come if they miss a chance at a superstar in the 2018 NBA Draft. Now, even I had trouble taking full grasp of how the trade implications have settled, but here are the logistics.

Their 2015 pick was top-5 protected. Luck won out, as the Lakers swapped draft spots with the New York Knicks, and selected point guard D’Angelo Russell from Ohio State.

However, the next two Lakers picks were top-3 protected. In 2017, the Lakers lucked out with the 2nd overall pick, but that meant that the Lakers were to lose the 2018 pick.

Had the Lakers received the fourth pick, they would have lost that one too. After the superteam era, Kobe Bryant continued to deal with various injuries that hampered playing time and the development of the 2014 selection Julius Randle and even D’Angelo Russell had to adjust to the superstar’s demands.