Henri Veesaar exited the 2026 NBA Draft as the 52nd overall pick. That is significantly lower than anyone thought the North Carolina Tar Heels center would drop. Veesaar was a first-round talent, and if the Los Angeles Lakers had their way, they would have snatched him up earlier.
NBA insider Brett Siegel reported on Twitter/X: "The Lakers traded into the second round and were eyeing Veesaar, with teams passing on him since LA were said to be promising him. The [Atlanta] Hawks traded up in front of the Lakers and [New York] Knicks to grab him."
According to Siegel, the Lakers made multiple attempts throughout the night to jump up to spots where they could have taken Veesaar earlier in the second round. The 37th pick was brought up in those discussions. As was the 41st selection.
There was just one major problem: the Lakers did not have much leverage to move up, and had even less draft capital to entice teams to let them have their way. Siegel mentioned the lack of future second round picks to dangle hurt Los Angeles in negotiations, and ultimately cost them Veesaar. That is where this all ties back in with Dorian Finney-Smith.
Dorian Finney-Smith left the Lakers without the assets to land Henri Veesaar
The 2024 trade that brought Finney-Smith to the Lakers in exchange for D'Angelo Russell had draft capital as a big driving force behind it. Los Angeles surrendered three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for that deal to get done.
The added sting here for the Lakers and their fans naturally comes from the fact that Finney-Smith turned out to only be a short rental. DFS departed from Los Angeles and went on his merry way to the Houston Rockets in the offseason that followed his arrival.
Thankfully for the Lakers, in that regard, they did actually turn out to be better off for Finney-Smith leaving. His injuries proved to be troublesome and his impact in Houston during this past season was minimal. Los Angeles was better off with simply having the cap space that was created by him exiting.
That does not erase the thought of how differently things could have played out in the 2026 NBA Draft with Veesaar if the Lakers had the extra second-round picks to work with. Adding the UNC center to the excellent selection of Cameron Carr could have made LA one of the clear winners from this year's draft.
For some peace of mind, Siegel did mention that Veesaar's agent wanted him in Atlanta, challenging some of the estimations made about his freefall from last night. Even so, the Lakers should not have been deterred by that. The lack of second-round assets was the real deterrent here.
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