This season was supposed to be different for the Los Angeles Lakers. Years of tanking netted the purple and gold a promising young core that played at least some part in landing LeBron James. The years in the draft lottery would be traded for playoff appearances. The injury bug, though, had a vastly different idea and massively derailed the Lakers season. The result late in the year is that, with Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball out for the season, the Lakers are back in the lottery race. Unlike years prior, fans were likely not as attentive to the college game with regards to potential draft picks for the Lakers. The good news is that the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament season is upon us, giving fans a chance to see some of the top prospects in high-profile games. Fans are certainly aware of the Duke freshman trio as well as Murray State’s Ja Morant at this point, but what does the rest of the lottery look like? Here’s a brief look at some of the other players in the lottery and a scouting report as you flip through games in the coming week. Romeo Langford, Guard, Indiana – Elite finisher in the painted area and an underrated playmaker. Watch for his progress on his jumpshot and motor on defense. Nassir Little, Wing, North Carolina – A 20-point, 10-rebound player per-40 minutes. A good watch for improving off-ball play and perimeter shooting as a projected 3/4 at the next level. Highly productive player considering his niche is unclear. Jarrett Culver, Guard, Texas Tech – A projected Top five wing player with high pick and roll usage. Doesn’t have great explosiveness around the rim, but does have good shot discipline and great patience in pick and roll. De’Andre Hunter, Wing, Virginia – Great stretch four player and positional defender and rebounder. Exhibits some wing-like skills with basic slashing ability and moves the ball on offense. Jaxson Hayes, Big, Texas – Pick and roll lob threat coming off of a major growth spurt. Tremendous fluidity as an athlete; needs to add a higher degree of physicality on the boards, screens, and defensively. Keldon Johnson, Wing, Kentucky – An aggressive wing player with basic straight line drive ability and spot-up shooting. Rui Hachimura, Big, Gonzaga – A stretch four with great intangibles. Possible late bloomer. Has issues against drives defensively and is narrow focused when attacking the rim. Great mid-range touch with developing three-point consistency. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Guard, Virginia Tech – A traditional guard that sees some time initiating offense. Excels at making basic plays efficient with pick and roll play and spot up shooting. P.J. Washington, Wing, Kentucky – A modern stretch four with post game. Shoots most of his threes from straight away from the hoop, but added developmental footwork in the post and midrange offensively. Motor has been running hot late this season. Brandon Clarke, Big, Gonzaga – Arguably the best defender at the NCAA level and plays bigger than his size. Great floater game but affects the game in all other aspects, especially defense, passing, and rebounding. Bol Bol, Big, Oregon – Out for season with an injury. Elite length with surprising wing-like dexterity. Unclear what his role is next level considering he can’t defend a position on the floor. Jontay Porter, Big, Missouri – Missed all of this season due to injury. Current Brook Lopez-like three-point touch but adds point guard levels of vision and passing out of the high post and perimeter. Sekou Doumbouya, Wing, International – Projected 3/4 in Europe. Flashes high skill rate with defensive closeouts and shot form, but hasn’t maintained the consistency of skill rate on a game-to-game basis.<doc-sep>In a recent Bleacher Report mock draft, the Los Angeles Lakers added North Carolina guard, Coby White. The season has not gone according to plan for the Los Angeles Lakers. Many people believed this is when the team would be gearing up for a playoff push behind LeBron James. Instead, they are staring at a nearly impossible task of qualifying for the postseason. Los Angeles currently sits in 10th place in the Western Conference, 5.5 games behind the San Antonio Spurs, who reside in the eighth spot. The Sacramento Kings are in ninth, while the Minnesota Timberwolves are tied with the Lakers. This was not the position the organization thought that they would be in. With only 18 games remaining, the Lakers have less than a one percent chance to make the playoffs. With the playoffs unlikely, the Lakers will turn their focus to the offseason earlier than anticipated. The first item of business during the offseason for Los Angeles will be the 2019 NBA Draft. A lottery pick is unexpected, but it will give the organization some options this summer. A lottery pick is a much better asset on the trade market if they look to shake up the roster in that fashion; we’re looking at you, New Orleans Pelicans and Anthony Davis. They could also decide to hold onto the selection, adding another young piece to a roster that should be operating with the thought process of what to do after LeBron James moves on. Right now, the Lakers are projected to be the No. 12 overall pick in the draft. Fans didn’t think mock drafts would be important to the Lakers this soon, but they look like they once again will be. In Bleacher Report‘s most recent NBA Mock Draft, the Lakers selected North Carolina Tar Heels guard, Coby White. As pointed out by Bleacher Report, White is an excellent 3-point shooter. That has been a glaring need for the Lakers throughout the season, and White would fix that right away. White ranks in the 97th percentile for spot-up shooting. His catch-and-shoot percentage currently sits at a gaudy 47.8 percent. That kind of floor spacing would greatly improve the Lakers’ offense. Too often this season they have been let down by inconsistent 3-point shooting, leading to a stagnant offense and poor spacing. Opposing defenses were able to collapse and stuff the paint, congesting things and making it difficult for Los Angeles to get easy shots. One reason the Lakers’ offseason went the way it did was that Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka wanted more ball handlers and playmakers around LeBron James to lessen the load on his shoulders. White would accomplish that as well, as he ranks in the 98th percentile for pick-and-roll passing. At 6’5″, White provides the size to play both backcourt spots. That means he won’t be relegated to only playing backup minutes behind Lonzo Ball as the two could play alongside each other. White and Ball could become a terror for opposing backcourts because of their length and size. While picking in the lottery will disappoint some fans, this gives the Lakers a chance to continue adding talent to the roster at an affordable rate. White would fill a number of holes for the Lakers, as his 3-point shooting and playmaking would both be assets for the team.<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff odds are quickly approaching zero percent, and it was reported Thursday that the Lakers plan to limit LeBron James’ minutes for the rest of the regular season. Los Angeles has lost four games in a row and eight of its last 10, and is currently 6.5 games back of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. The good news for Lakers fans? Every loss contributes to the teams odds of landing a star player in the 2019 NBA Draft. The NBA has tinkered with the draft lottery odds in an attempt to stop teams from blatantly tanking, and in 2019, the three worst teams in the league will have an equal chance to land the No. 1 overall pick. Worst three teams: 14 percent Fourth-worst team: 12.5 percent Fifth-worst team: 10.5 percent Sixth-worst team: 9 perecent Seventh-worst team: 7.5 percent Eighth-worst team: 6 percent Ninth-worst team: 4.5 percent Tenth-worst team: 3 percent If the season ended today, the 30-35 Lakers would have the 12th-worst record in the league, which would give them a 1.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick. With the team in freefall and James potentially watching from the sideline, however, the Lakers odds should improve by the end of the season. Los Angeles has 17 games remaining in the regular season. Nine of those games are on the road – including one game “at” the Clippers. More importantly, 14 of the Lakers’ remaining games are against teams in playoff positions or fighting for playoff berths. The Bulls, Knicks and Pelicans are the only lottery-focused teams Los Angeles will play the rest of the year – which means the Lakers could conceivably finish the year with somewhere between 43 and 50 losses. The Lakers have no chance of “catching” New York (13-52), Phoenix (15-51), Cleveland (16-49), Chicago (19-47) or Atlanta (22-44) at the bottom of the standings, and both Memphis (26-40) and Dallas (27-37) will likely finish the year with worse records (but it could be close). Where does that leave the Lakers? Finishing the season with the eighth-worst record would give them a six percent shot at the No. 1 pick – but if the wheels fall off completely and the Lakers surpass the Grizzlies and the Mavs, a sixth-place finish would result in a nine percent chance.<doc-sep>
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 04: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on March 04, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) It is safe to say that the Los Angeles Lakers are not going to make the NBA playoffs and now the team should be focused on losing. The Los Angeles Lakers‘ 2018-2019 season has not gone how anyone expected. After defeating the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day and effectively hitting their peak in the process, the Lakers have stumbled all the way down to 30-35 with an extremely banged up roster. The Lakers are six and a half games out of the playoffs with only 17 games left in the season. The Lakers would probably have to win 15 of their last 17 and that obviously is not going to happen. The entire young roster is hurt and LeBron James isn’t giving maximum defensive effort. This team is not going to win 15 of the last 17 and it would be a miracle if the team even finished .500. Instead of focusing on finishing in a decent manner and missing the playoffs anyway, the Los Angeles Lakers would be much better off losing these final games. Even considering the idea of a LeBron James team tanking is hilarious but it would help the Lakers drastically. The Lakers currently have the 12th-worst record in the league with a 1.3 percent chance at the first overall pick. Expecting the team to get the first overall pick and win the Zion Williamson sweepstakes is silly but the Lakers could easily move into the top-10 with a decent chance of the top five. The number to circle is seven. The Los Angeles Lakers are two and a half games back of having the seventh-worst record, which currently belongs to the Atlanta Hawks (via Dallas) and Washington Wizards. You could make the case that the team can make it to the sixth overall pick, which belongs to the Memphis Grizzlies. Anything past that is out of reach. If Los Angeles manages to win three games or fewer (sounds miserable, I know, but it is for the best) then the team will have a case for gaining the two and a half games on Dallas (who isn’t trying to lose because they don’t have their pick) and Washington. If the Lakers get to the seventh-worst record then the team will have a 6.8 percent chance of landing the top pick and a 22.5 percent chance of landing the top-three pick. Having a pick that high in the draft would be massive. The team could pick a highly touted prospect, like R.J. Barrett, if they really wanted to. However, the last thing the team needs right now is more youth. Having a pick this high allows the Lakers to make a trade for, say, Anthony Davis without having to include a third member of the young core, or perhaps even a second member. It is the most valuable thing the team can have in trade talks, even more valuable than these young players, because the Pelicans get to pick their prospect. The most impactful thing the Los Angeles Lakers can do right now to win next season is to lose. It sounds redundant, but it is the truth.