Lakers: Jayson Tatum Reflects on LA Snubbing Him in 2017 Draft

Jayson Tatum talks about his draft experience in 2017 and the Lakers passing him over.

Most Lakers fans are painfully aware that Los Angeles had a golden opportunity to draft current Celtics All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum in the 2017 NBA draft. Instead, the Lakers took Lonzo Ball, and then traded him to New Orleans as part of the deal that brought Anthony Davis to LA.

It's more than likely that had the Lakers taken Tatum, who would've had same New Orleans fate as Ball, but that still hasn't stopped fans, or Tatum from thinking about what might have been.

In a recent interview with ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne, Tatum, a devout Kobe fan, talked about how getting drafted by the Lakers who have been a "dream come true".

"The Lakers were my favorite team, and Kobe was my favorite player. So it was crazy that the Lakers had the second pick and I was so close to a dream come true. But it was just like they didn't want anything to do with me at the time."

Throughout his career, and especially this playoffs, Tatum has made numerous tributes to Kobe, including wearing a custom pair of Kobe shoes in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and a purple and gold number 24 sweatband in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat.

Shelbourne chronicled how the Lakers and Sixers were so zeroed in on Fultz and Tatum that they didn't do their due diligence on Tatum.

"The Lakers sat at No. 2 and were fixated on UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball. They didn't even bring Tatum in for a workout. The reasons for these decisions are painful to revisit for those who made them, and somewhat lost to history because the principals - Bryan Colangelo (Philadelphia) and Magic Johnson (Lakers) -- are no longer in their roles."

What's done is done, but the Lakers not drafting Tatum is still a big "what if" for both the franchise and one of the league's biggest Kobe's fans.