Drafting Lonzo Ball to play with D’Angelo Russell will be a smart move by Lakers

Triumphantly flashing his trademark and always effervescent smile, Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson was quite pleased with the results of Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery. Johnson’s excitement was due to the Lakers getting the No. 2 pick in June’s draft, which will allow them to add a potential franchise-changing star player.

Johnson was also excited because the Lakers could’ve ended up with no draft pick.

In the 2012 Steve Nash trade, L.A. traded their 2015 first round pick to the Suns. That pick was top-five protected in 2015 and top-three protected in 2016 and 2017. The Suns later traded the pick to the Sixers, so Philadelphia could’ve had the Lakers’ selection if it fell out of the top three. But since the Lakers were near the bottom of the league for the last several years, they lucked out and were able to keep their picks.

Read More: The last article ever about LaVar Ball was published today

Thanks to that luck, the Lakers have one of the best assets in the league, a top pick in a loaded draft. They can trade it and try to get an older, All-Star caliber player to add to their youthful roster. The Lakers could also simply keep their pick and select the best player available, which may be UCLA star Lonzo Ball.

That’s at least the hope for Ball and his outspoken father LaVar.

Making his hopes and dreams for Lonzo quite public, LaVar has declared that his son will only play for the Lakers. Ball also made it well known that his son will also only work out for the Lakers before the draft.

“That’s all we working out for is the Lakers,”Ball told Lakers Nation. “Just the Lakers. There’s nobody else that we need to work out for.”

This could of course backfire for the Ball family. The Lakers could trade the pick or select a different player. But given his talent, it probably is more prudent for the Lakers to draft Ball, especially since he could be a nice fit alongside D’Angelo Russell.

Russell has had some inconsistencies in his young career, yet he is just 21-years old and is very far away from reaching his full potential. That’s why almost immediately after getting the No. 2 pick, teams were reportedly calling the Lakers about acquiring Russell. And while the Lakers could get some nice talent and assets in a deal, they likely would be better off to keeping the talented young guard.

Russell showed a lot of promise last season and seemed to blossom under Lakers coach Luke Walton. This was in stark contrast to his rookie season, when Russell was severely restricted by former coach Byron Scott.

Receiving mixed messages and non-motivating words from Scott (often by way of public statements to the media), Russell often looked lost and unsure of himself during his rookie year. But Walton’s positive reinforcement unsurprisingly worked on Russell and his game grew by leaps and bounds.

Playing with more confidence under Walton, Russell showed plenty of poise and began to really grow as a playmaker. He averaged 5.8 assists and was more aggressive on offense, averaging 6.1 3-point attempts per game while shooting 40.5 percent and 35.2 percent from three. Russell was also injured for 11 games in November and December, which slowed down the Lakers’ strong start to the season. Overall though, Russell’s second season ended with plenty of promise and was a glimpse of how large of a role he can could play on the Lakers.

Because of how Russell played last season, it seems like a good idea for L.A. to see how a potential pairing with Ball could work out. This is all contingent on the Lakers actually drafting Ball but given how potent his spot-up shooting can be, Ball could potentially play off the ball alongside with Russell. The Lakers can let Russell act as the primary playmaker and use his court vision to set Ball up along the perimeter for open shots. This will then give Los Angeles a backcourt for the future, a key component for all championship contenders.

Of course, with Johnson’s and GM Rob Pelinka’s visions of grandeur, the Lakers may be dreaming of landing an established star player. Yet the potential pairing of Ball and Russell is currently untapped, so why not just try it out to see how it works?

Plus why give up on Russell right now? He is very young, still on his rookie contract and has been embracing everything Walton has taught and told him to do.

Also with the way the Warriors have been dominating the West, perhaps it would be best for L.A. to nurture their young talent until they are truly ready to challenge Golden State. Trying to hasten that process by trading the No. 2 pick or Russell will only put the Lakers in a semi-state of competitiveness with no real room for growth.

Next: What each NBA coach would be doing if he wasn’t an NBA coach

The Lakers though, have some time before making a decision on Russell and the No. 2 pick. Whatever they ultimately end up doing will impact the future of the franchise in one way or the other. But if they remain patient and see what could possibly happen if they select Ball and play him alongside a burgeoning talent in Russell, the best may be yet to come for Los Angeles.