3. Trade into the lottery
This one actually looks like it could come to fruition. The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly considering trading up from No. 17 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, which only leaves the No. 15 and No. 16 selections before it's officially lottery season.
In a draft class that's been labeled as weaker than its recent predecessors, however, the risk of trading up for a potentially unproven commodity would be a massive talking point.
Los Angeles has several intriguing players who are under the age of 30, including 26-year-old wings Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. In terms of players on their rookie-scale contracts, however, only Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis remain.
In the modern NBA, which has been overhauled by dramatic changes to salary cap rules that intend to prevent superteams, maximizing the value of affordable contracts is nothing short of essential.
As such, the pursuit of a lottery-level talent should intrigue Lakers fans. If Los Angeles is willing to move up to acquire a player, it likely has significant plans for them—both in the short and the long term.
Trading up from No. 17 to No. 14, for instance, wouldn't create much of a difference in available talent. Rob Pelinka may just know exactly who he wants to select.