As we near the first domino of what will eventually become next season I got to thinking about whom the Lakers could trying to buy a draft pick from. They have a small amount of cash in the form of Marc Gasol’s trade exception so they can entice some teams to part with a 2nd rounder, maybe, likely to be a pick late in that round.
2nd Round:
31. Indiana (from Houston via Cleveland)
32. Orlando
33. Toronto (from Detroit via San Antonio, Washington and Chicago)
34. Oklahoma City
35. Orlando (from Indiana via Milwaukee)
36. Portland
37. Sacramento
38. San Antonio (from Los Angeles Lakers via Chicago and Washington)
39. Cleveland (from San Antonio via Utah)
40. Minnesota (from Washington via Cleveland)
41. New Orleans
42. New York
43. LA Clippers
44. Atlanta
45. Charlotte
46. Detroit (from Brooklyn)
47. Memphis (from Cleveland via New Orleans and Atlanta)
48. Minnesota
49. Sacramento (from Chicago via Memphis and Detroit)
50. Minnesota (from Denver via Philadelphia)
51. Golden State (from Toronto via Philadelphia)
52. New Orleans (from Utah)
53. Boston
— Milwaukee (forfeited)
— Miami (from Philadelphia via Denver; forfeited by Miami)
54. Washington (from Dallas)
55. Golden State
56. Cleveland (from Miami via Indiana)
57. Portland (from Memphis via Utah)
58. Indiana (from Phoenix)
The earliest pick I can imagine being for sale is Charlotte’s and only because MJ is a legendary spendthrift. Even that seems pretty far-fetched, though, as you can cut a player drafted in the second round with no cap impact. They don’t get any kind of guaranteed money so why not make the pick, bring ’em into camp, and if they don’t jive cut them then. Still, the 45th pick is as high as I see the Lakers being able to buy.
More likely is one of Golden State’s 2 picks (51 and 55). They have a fairly well-defined roster and are reported to be open to the idea of retaining most of it regardless of cost. Again, always a lofty sentiment but let’s assume for the moment that they do plan on bringing as many players back as they can. While cheap, 2nd round draft picks do ultimately have to get signed to a contract and those will be taken into account regarding the ever-ballooning luxury tax that the Warriors know is coming their way.
So if I had to guess mine would be the 55st pick in the Draft for the low-low price of $2.7 mil.
Trevor Lane from LakersNation predicted they would buy a second round pick for $3M.
The Lakers actually have 4.7 in trade exceptions. The TWolves actually have 3 2nd round pick, the last at 50. There was also talk that the Pistons are shopping the 46th pick. I’m not sure why.
Hard for me to see the Wolves sending us a pick for cash but I suppose it could happen. That goes for all the teams, really. I mean…who wants to do us a favor? You don’t need to sign your second rounder, I suppose if ownership is REALLY in need of cash it makes sense.
So between 2.7-4.7 mil, cool. Honestly, any young player with upside is welcome at this point.
Often times a team will send a future 2nd and cash for a 2nd round pick. So in the TWolves case they may not want 3 2nd round picks. They sell on and gain a future 2nd rounder.
Man I say no for the Lakers unless it’s for straight cash. At some point we need to plan for a future of some kind, way this is going we won’t be competitive until 2030.