Don't rule out the Los Angeles Lakers selecting D'Angelo Russell in the 2015 NBA draft, according to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. Although the Lakers have been linked to Jahlil Okafor and Karl-Anthony Towns, whom the Lakers purportedly want and have a chance to select, some league executives apparently believe Los Angeles might actually go after Russell.
Towns is No. 1 on the Lakers' draft board, according to multiple reports, but the league executives that Howard-Cooper spoke to believe there's a "logical case" for the Lakers selecting Russell.
"Away from the consensus, distanced from the assumptions, there is a logical case to be made for the Lakers to take Ohio State guard D'Angelo Russell with the second pick in the June 25 Draft and not simply inherit the big man the Timberwolves do not take at No. 1," Howard-Cooper wrote Saturday. "There is such a logical case, in fact, that front offices outside Los Angeles buy the premise without hesitation. Russell is considered that good - 'I would take him No. 1,' said an executive with a team that isn't picking high enough to be impacted by the top five being shuffled - and the Lakers have that unique of circumstances."
Scouts view Russell as a two-way player with great upside, but few if any mock drafts project him to go before Towns and Okafor. Los Angeles needs a point guard, but it's difficult to see the team leaving Towns or Okafor - the two best players in the draft - on the board in favor of the Ohio State freshman.
Previous reports indicated Los Angeles wanted Towns, and although the Kentucky center is projected to be the No. 1 pick of the draft, both Sports Illustrates and ESPN reported last week the Minnesota Timberwolves prefer Okafor with the first overall pick. If Minnesota were to choose Towns, however, at least two reports claimed Los Angeles would go with either point guard Emmanuel Mudiay or Russell.
