A Brief 2025 Draft Post
Can the Lakers find an NBA level player in the late 2nd round?
This will be short and sweet.
This post will be a placeholder while I’m learning about this year’s draft process.
Those that follow me on Twitter (and I will still call it that), are likely to have seen these lists before.
First, my controversial lottery picks:
Cooper Flagg
Kasparas Jakucionis
Kon Knueppel
Dylan Harper
Derik Queen
Colin Murray-Boyles
Ace Bailey
VJ Edgecombe
Jeremiah Fears
Carter Bryant
Jase Richardson
Liam McNeeley
Nique Clifford
Khaman Maluach
No, I did not include Tre Johnson, Asa Newell, Noa Essengue, or Egor Demin. I’m still learning about them, and frankly, I’m not as big of a fan on an initial impression.
As for the late 2nd round to UDFA for now:
Yanic Konan Niederhauser
Jamir Watkins
Sion James
Andrej Stojakovic
Kobe Johnson
Michael Ajayi
Tobi Lawal
Augustus Marciulionis
Hansen Yang
Henri Veesaar
We’ll see what players decide to declare and which others decide to stay. I never thought the NIL would have this much impact on the draft, but it will have a few players than usual deciding to return instead of taking their chances in the 2nd round.
I only expect 10-15 players out of this draft class to comfortably make it to their second contracts. I’m not optimistic about finding an NBA player in the second round. There is a chance a player can develop into one, but with the Lakers in the middle of a playoff/championship hunt, are they willing to wait at least two years for development?
That’s yet to be seen. Fortunately, there is proof of development into the parent team as shown by Koloko, Goodwin, and Trey Jemison.
Feel free to start asking questions either on here, or preferably on Bluesky.