2014 NBA Draft Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers to try to trade seventh-overall pick for Joel Embiid or Kevin Love?

Tuesday night’s 2014 NBA Draft Lottery obviously didn’t go exactly the way the Los Angeles Lakers wanted it to. Instead of moving up into the top three, the Lakers actually moved down a spot and have the seventh-overall pick despite finishing with the sixth-worst record in the league.

Although the Lakers believe they can find a good player with the seventh-overall selection (and  former Kentucky Wildcats’ power forward Julius Randle, former Oklahoma State Cowboys’ point guard Marcus Smart and Croatian forward Dario Saric have come up in connection with the team), they still may trade the pick.

Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report believes the Lakers could try to package the selection to move up for center Joel Embiid or acquire Minnesota Timberwolves’ power forward Kevin Love.

"Their future draft picks are mostly locked up from the Dwight Howard and Steve Nash all-in efforts, and they can’t even trade this No. 7 pick without getting a 2014 first-rounder back because of NBA rules. (The Lakers could pick a player at No. 7 and then trade him, however.) Trading the pick for more immediate help that isn’t at Love’s level will be an option to explore.But how the Lakers could put together a package good enough to get Love or even the No. 3 overall pick isn’t clear at all. So the team will probably wind up using the pick—meaning someone from the group of Exum, Vonleh, Smart, Randle and Gordon will be coming to town."

Of course, with that lack of assets, it is going to be tough for the Lakers to make any kind of big move.