The LA Lakers are a very busy team and some of their offseason workouts are rather intriguing.
The consensus is that the Lakers will take the whoever the Sixers didn't take between Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram, but according to Basketball Insiders' Steve Kyler via Lakers Nation, the No.2 pick is "not locked on anyone yet" even as Ingram concluded his workout with the team.
"For whats its worth - Lakers telling agents they are not locked on anyone yet, and will draft the guy they feel fits," Kyler tweeted.
The Lakers went against the grain last year when Jahlil Okafor was the popular pick behind Karl-Anthony Towns but they took D'Angelo Russell instead. The team has two major holes to fill (small forward and center) and they have worked out Jaylen Brown (SF) and Skal Labissiere, an athletic and lengthy rim protector once projected as the first overall pick.
However, there are some media outfits who give some color to Oklahoma's Buddy Hield and his workout with Kobe Bryant. Hield is scheduled for a workout with the team next week and he can take over Kobe's spot as his college resume shows he can play big in crucial stretches.
Still, it's hard to pass on Brandon Ingram, whom the ESPN Analytics experts named as the best player in the draft. With a system that determined statistical plus-minus (SPM) they conclude that the Duke Blue Devil has the highest possibility of being a star.
"Ingram has the highest draft grade, based on total projected SPM, and he is most likely to play at the level of an All-Star or starter during his first five seasons," the article noted. "The model uses box score stats (adjusted for level of competition faced and pace), scouts' rankings and player information -- such as age, height, weight and position from 2001 to 2011 -- to project out future classes."
There is a possibility that the Lakers are looking for other assets and entertaining the possibility of trading down. Hield taken 2nd overall is a huge stretch as he is being targeted by teams at the no.7-9 spot (Sacramento allegedly one of those). This is why they are working out other players who they could take at later in the lottery.
It could also be the Lakers just throwing off the predictions as teams often work out players who are not within their projected draft ranges.