Lakers Rumors: Did The Lakers Make A Draft Promise?

Ohio State guard and projected top-three pick D’Angelo Russell cancelled his workout with the Philadelphia Sixers this morning due to a reported illness, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"D’Angelo Russell canceled this weekend’s scheduled workout with the 76ers after getting “real sick,” according to a source close to the former Ohio State standout. Another source said don’t rule out the franchise securing a workout with Russell in the near future.via Russell cancels workout with SixersD’Angelo Russell canceled this weekend’s scheduled workout with the 76ers after getting “real sick,” according to a source close to the former Ohio State standout. Another source said don’t rule out the franchise securing a workout with Russell in the near future."

The Lakers, owners of the second overall pick, sit just ahead of the Sixers in this year’s draft and the news comes in the aftermath of the Lakers’ private workout for Russell. This understandably led to plenty of speculation among fans that the team perhaps made a promise to draft the Ohio State star. The notion is certainly plausible as the team has a history of making draft day promises — Magic, Kobe and Bynum all received notice prior to draft day that they’d be headed to LA — however, it wouldn’t make much sense in this case from the Lakers’ perspective.

Sitting at No. 2 overall, the Lakers will have their chance at all but one of the top players in the draft and there is still a distinct possibility that the team can land the consensus best player in Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns if Minnesota, picking first, decides to differ from the general school of thought. It would be questionable for the Lakers to make a promise to a prospect this early without a definitive idea of what will happen ahead of them.

Secondly, this notion conflicts with reports that came out earlier in the week stating that the team are “Locked in” on drafting Duke center Jahlil Okafor. And frankly, with the team’s need of a presence in the front court, drafting Okafor is the more likely scenario.

Though, as CBS’ Matt Moore noted, if LA were to pick Russell at No. 2, it would certainly create quite the shake up at the top of the draft:

"If Russell were to be taken No.2, that would create quite a bit of chaos. The Philadelphia 76ers, who may still be looking at Emmanuel Mudiay, Justise Winslow, or Kristaps Porzingis according to reports, would be in a pickle with either Towns or Okafor slipping the year after they took Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid in back to back drafts."

If this plays out, teams would likely look to aggressively move up to the Sixers’ pick and nab one of the top big men while the lowly Knicks, picking fourth, would be anxiously awaiting the opportunity to land their franchise center.

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For the Lakers, if picking Russell they’d likely be increasingly hard-pressed to find a big man through free agency, where the seemingly eternal rumors of the team landing Kevin Love and their reported interest in bigs such as LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan would only amplify.

While the “what if” scenarios are certainly enjoyable, there likely isn’t any fuel to the speculation of a Lakers promise in Russell’s case. For an often vague Mitch Kupchak, he has made it relatively clear that the team would prefer to find their center through the draft. And while there are many uncertainties this early in the process, it is definite that at least one of the top bigs will be available for the taking at their second overall selection.

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