Reports claim that the Los Angeles Lakers may not necessarily draft either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor with the No.2 overall pick.
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It is widely expected that the Minnesota Timberwolves will select one of the two big men with the No.1 pick in the Draft on June 25, with the Lakers picking up the prospect that is still available.
However, the latest speculation suggests that it isn’t as clear cut as that, with both D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay potentially of interest to the franchise.
Basically, the Lakers aren't locked into K-AT or Okafor no matter what at this point, per source. Intrigued by Mudiay/Russell.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 21, 2015
It remains to be seen what the Lakers choose to do, as it isn’t likely that they will be open to trading their pick in order to acquire established talent in what will be Kobe Bryant’s final year in the league.
What makes this particularly interesting is that rookie guard Jordan Clarkson enjoyed an impressive first year in the NBA last season, and so it would seem confusing to an extent to want to draft another back-court prospect.
However, it comes down to whether or not the Lakers are going to select based on purely wanting to obtain the most talented player in this Draft class over who they believe is the best fit for the team.
Towns and Okafor are certainly amongst the strongest players in this latest group of young talent, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that LA will be looking to make it a priority to bolster their front-court when there is an opportunity to bring in another top prospect at the guard position.
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