2023 NBA Draft: Los Angeles Lakers Official Selections and Draft Grades
Coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance, but losing quite a few of their key pieces to free agency, the Lakers are looking to re-tool and re-load around superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
They’ll likely look to free agency to sign returnees and potential new players, but their roster overhaul first began with Thursday’s draft.
They had one first and one second round selection in the 2023 NBA Draft, both of which should yield potential contributors should they have available minutes in the rotation.
Here’s how the Lakers’ draft unfolded:
Selections
No. 17: Jalen Hood-Schifino
No. 40: Maxwell Lewis
Overall Draft Grade
A-
Draft Summary
Los Angeles had a sneakily strong draft, taking a pair of potential immediate contributors and upside swings in Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis.
Hood-Schifino was slated to go in the lottery in the pre-draft cycle, and was rumored to be looked at as high as ninth by the Jazz. In Los Angeles, Hood-Schifino will provide a pick-and-roll scoring punch and strong defensive acumen.
Lewis saw a big drop, sliding all the way to 40th overall, but still provides in the least strong creation ability, potential 3-point scoring an on-ball defense via his length. Even more, there's a chance Lewis could tap into more down the line.
Relative to their selections, the Lakers had a good draft.
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