Los Angeles Lakers: Three ways to trade the first-round pick

With so much youth already on the roster, the Los Angeles Lakers can get creative with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2018 first-round pick.

The buildup to the 2018 NBA Draft is much different than it was a year prior. One year ago, the Los Angeles Lakers needed to land in the top-three in order to secure their pick and eventually draft Lonzo Ball. With so much on the line, the NBA Draft Lottery was a widely anticipated by the organization and fans alike.

This year, that same hype is not surrounding the draft. The Los Angeles Lakers do not have any control of their own pick. Instead, the team has the Cleveland Cavaliers 2018 first-round pick, which they acquired in the Isaiah Thomas trade.

That pick is slated to be the 25th in the first round with no lottery implications. And while the Lakers could select a valuable piece that late in the first round, with so much youth and potential superstars looming, the draft has become a bit of an afterthought.

Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll outlined the flexibility the Lakers have in the draft with so much great young talent. Faigen outlined why the situation this year is different from years prior and what it may entail.

"“But now that all of their young players appear to be panning out, the front office can really swing at the type of high-risk, high-reward gamble they’ve mostly stayed away from over the past few seasons.”"

That high-risk gamble may be trading that pick and it got us thinking. If the Los Angeles Lakers were to trade the pick, how exactly would it pan out? Here are three different scenarios.