Lakers must use NBA draft to get younger and more athletic

When it comes to taking the steps toward becoming an NBA title contender, the path that worked for one team doesn’t guarantee success for another. The paths for the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder or 2026 Western Conference champion Spurs – who built their teams through savvy trades and high draft picks after multiple consecutive losing seasons – won’t work for the Lakers. Going into multiple consecutive seasons without the goal of building a championship-contending roster, let alone one a playoff-contender one, isn’t feasible for the Lakers.  “That is just not part of our infrastructure here, as much as some of us might want it to be that way: It’s not the Lakers way,” Lakers president of basketball operations/general manager Rob Pelinka said after their 2025-26 season ended.“We have to find sustained excellence so it does create, at times, a thread the needle where you gotta find a way to have championship rosters every year.”But what the Lakers can, and have, taken away from the teams who’ve recently played for the NBA championship over the last couple of years is the type of roster construction it takes to compete among the league’s best. Depth that can withstand injuries and produce impact players in precarious moments. Speed and athleticism that can string together multiple successful defensive efforts within a single possession several times in a game. Youth that can withstand the rigor of an 82-game regular season, plus another two months of intense playoff games. The NBA draft, which starts with Tuesday’s first round and concludes with the second round on Wednesday, will provide the Lakers, who have the No.

25 pick in the first round, with the opportunity to add those elements to their roster. “We have a lot of components of that on our roster, but we need to add to it,” Pelinka said.“Those are some of the key north stars that we need to look at.

There’s ways to add to your roster if you commit to doing t...