Lakers: What would they look like if they drafted perfectly during rebuild?

In the 2018 draft, the Lakers held the 25th and 47th overall picks. While these are relatively low picks, there were still some valuable players that could be added to the team.

With the 25th overall pick, the Lakers selected Moritz Wagner. However, the player that was still on the board that would have been a much better pick was Mitchell Robinson. Robinson was selected 36th overall by the New York Knicks and is the missing piece that we need to round out the Lakers hypothetical starting five.

While he does not score much and has not seen many career starts with the Knicks, he is an elite paint defender. Along with this, he has great potential and is efficient in his scoring. While he only averages 9.7 points per game, he does it on 74.2% shooting. This season Robinson averages 9.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game.

However, this can be a bit deceiving because he only plays 23.1 minutes per game for the Knicks. When looking at the per 36-minute splits for him it is much easier to see how dominant he is. Per 36 minutes, he averages 15.0 points, 10.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 3.0 blocks a game. These are great numbers from a player only in his second season in the league who likely will only continue to improve as his career progresses.

With the 47th overall pick, the Lakers selected Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk. In this scenario, they will select Shake Milton who was originally selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the 54th overall pick. Milton has not had much of a chance to show what he can do in the NBA having spent some time in the G-League before signing with a contending Philadelphia 76ers team.

However, in the chances that he has had with the 76ers, he has shown that the future is very bright for him. Looking at his per 36-minute stats, he averages 17.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game on 49.8% shooting from the field and 45.3% shooting from three.

With this draft concluding the Lakers starting roster will now consist of Malcolm Brogdon at point guard, Jayson Tatum at shooting guard, LeBron James at small forward, Pascal Siakam at power forward, and either Mitchell Robinson or JaVale McGee at the center position. The Lakers bench unit will consist of Rajon Rondo, Shake Milton, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, and whichever player does not start between Robinson or McGee.

This is already a more playoff or even championship-caliber roster than the Lakers had originally going into this season and it is possible that they could have even slipped into the playoffs despite LeBron being injured for a good portion of the year.