Lakers News: Los Angeles Focusing On Wings In Latest Pre-Draft Workout

LA's first big offseason dominoes will fall next Thursday.

On Wednesday, your Los Angeles Lakers held their latest in an ongoing and thorough series of pre-draft workouts. Los Angeles currently possesses the 17th and 47th picks in the 2023 draft. Assuming it retains that No. 17 pick, the club will be selecting in the first round of a draft for the first team in five years, when it drafted now-Orlando Magic reserve center Moritz Wagner with the No. 25 pick out of the University of Michigan.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports that LA's front office and coaches auditioned six NBA hopefuls on Wednesday, all swingmen: San Diego State point guard Adam Seiko (LA already has worked out his teammate Nathan Mensah), Memphis small forward Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, University of Akron guard Xavier Castaneda, G League Ignite shooting guard Mojave King, University of Florida small forward Alex Fudge and University of Miami guard Isaiah Wong.

Castaneda, a 6'1" point guard, is a two-time All-MAC Tourney selection. He transferred to Akron out of the University of South Florida, and had by far his best-ever collegiate season in 2022-23 as a fifth-year senior. Across 31 contests (all starts), Castaneda averaged 21.7 points on .415/.390/.862 shooting splits, 4.3 boards, 2.9 dimes, and a steal a night.

The heavily-decorated Wong was a three-time All-ACC selection, an NCAA All-Region Selection, and was also named the 2022-23 ACC Player of the Year. In his senior season for the Hurricanes, he averaged 16.2 points on a .445/.384/.845 slash line, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 steals a night.

King logged two seasons as a reserve with Australia's NBL before joining the G League's development franchise. He didn't exactly approach the starry output of teammate Scoot Henderson. The 21-year-old averaged 8.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists cross 30 games with the Ignite, including eight starts.

The 6'3" Seiko, a fifth-year reserve for the Aztecs, averaged just 5.8 points on .456/.458/.781 shooting splits and 1.4 rebounds across 37 games in 2022-23, and seems like a two-way contract candidate if anything.

Another long-term project LA is considering from among this batch appears to be the 6'8" swingman Fudge, who averaged similarly paltry stats (5.8 points and 4.5 boards) during his second NCAA season (he transferred to Florida out of LSU).

Akobundu-Ehiogu, a fairly raw prospect with some impressive size (6'10") and length (reportedly a 7'4" wingspan), averaged just 2.6 points while playing with the Tigers.

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