Los Angeles Lakers mock draft: LA trades down, adds promising stretch 5
By Jason Reed
With the 44th pick, the Los Angeles Lakers select David Johnson, Guard, Louisville
The Los Angeles Lakers address the backcourt first and this is an area where the team has had a lot of success in the past. Alex Caruso, Talen Horton-Tucker, Jordan Clarkson and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk are all great examples of late guards that the team took and became NBA rotation players.
The Lakers are hoping to get the same thing out of David Johnson. He will not be an impact player right away, as he is coming out of college as a sophomore, but he could help become another building block in the backcourt for the future.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is likely going to be a Laker for two more years at most while the Lakers could legitimately lose both Alex Caruso and Dennis Schroder on the free-agent market. Chances are they will bring at least one, if not both, back into the fold, but you never know.
Johnson is the perfect type of guard for the Lakers to bring in. He is a combo-guard that has enough size to play the two but is good enough at facilitating to play the one when needed. He is tall for the position (six-five) and is a really good rebounder because of his size and length. He is a good defender as well.
He is not a great three-point shooter at this juncture in his career but quite frankly, that is something that can be worked on at the NBA level.
In five years, assuming they keep both guys, a Johnson/Talen Horton-Tucker backcourt could be very fun to watch with the length and versatility of both guys.