With the No. 2 pick in hand, there isn’t likely to be an actual choice for the L.A. front office—the Minnesota Timberwolves get on the board first and will control the selecting of the two big men.
Some draft prognosticators have the 'Wolves choosing Towns first, including Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, whose mock draft and big board are below:
That the Lakers are even in second position is a major cause for celebration for a team that suffered through a historically bad season at 21-61. Heading into the lottery on May 19, Los Angeles was just hoping to hang onto its top-five protected pick and not forfeit it to the Philadelphia 76ers as a result of the now-infamous Steve Nash trade.
But with Lakers coach Byron Scott sitting at the dais, the pingpong balls took a lucky bounce—L.A. not only kept its selection, but it actually moved up from fourth to second place. It was the only team to thus improve its position in the draft.
There will be those who insist that the choice isn’t limited to only two prospects—that Los Angeles could instead pick either of two point guards—Emmanuel Mudiay, who skipped college to play pro ball in China, or D’Angelo Russell from Ohio State, who emerged as a consensus top-five candidate during the NCAA's regular season.
But that conversation is nothing more than parlor talk. The Lakers are in desperate need of a quality starting center, and as it happens, the two best players in the draft fit that bill. Okafor is hot off an NCAA championship as the Blue Devils’ starting pivot, while Towns played both power forward and center for the Wildcats.
