NBA Draft 2018: 5 targets for the Los Angeles Lakers

2. Elie Okobo (France)

If the Lakers decide to go the international route, Elie Okobo could be a nice fit for the team at No. 25. The 6-foot-3 point guard with a 6-foot-8 wingspan has all of the right measurables and his game is absolutely perfect for what the Lakers are looking for.

He’s become a decent playmaker out of the pick-and-roll and can light it up from deep both off the dribble and in spot-up opportunities. While he is a point guard, he doesn’t replicate Lonzo Ball’s skill set, but rather does things to complement the incumbent.

Ball would love sharing the floor with a guy who can take over some of the ball-handling responsibilities while relinquishing at other times to play off the ball and create the spacing that makes Ball so dangerous in the half court.

And then there are the backup minutes that we already addressed with Holiday, but Okobo coming off the bench in Los Angeles is already an immediate upgrade over the dumpster fire of options the Lakers had until the trade for Isaiah Thomas (and even he was a moderate upgrade whose offense rarely counterbalanced how much of a liability he was on the defensive end of the floor).

Okobo’s last season in the Jeep Elite league saw him average career highs in scoring (12.9 points) and dimes (4.8 assists) while shooting just under 40 percent from deep. He hasn’t played against elite talent yet, but the potential to become a solid role player is there, making him a decent option for the Lakers late in the first round.