While the Los Angeles Lakers are currently focused on making a run in the postseason, the 2025 NBA Draft is just around the corner as it is set for June 25 and 26 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The NBA Draft lottery has not yet taken place, so some teams are still waiting to find out where they will be picking. The league sorted out all of the tiebreakers, however, so the non-lottery picks including where the Lakers landed have been finalized:
Five ties among teams with identical regular-season records were broken today through random drawings to determine the order of selection for NBA Draft 2025 presented by State Farm. pic.twitter.com/FExaNFXF2B
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 21, 2025
The Lakers ended the regular season with 50 wins, which put them in a four-way tie with the Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers won that tiebreaker and were awarded the No. 22 overall pick, although that will not be theirs to use as it is headed to the Atlanta Hawks.
This pick is the final piece of the Anthony Davis trade when L.A. sent a ton of assets to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for the star big man. The Pelicans had the option of taking the Lakers’ 2024 first rounder or deferring it to 2025, and they chose the latter. That resulted in the Lakers drafting Dalton Knecht with the No. 17 overall pick last year.
New Orleans ended up trading the Lakers’ 2025 first round pick to the Hawks as part of their package of Dejounte Murray, which is why Atlanta will be making the pick.
The Lakers do have their own second round pick this year, which ended up being No. 55 overall. L.A. has typically done well finding gems late in the draft and they will have an opportunity to do so again if they keep the 55th pick.
This is the second straight year the Lakers have picked at 55 as they selected Bronny James at the same number in 2024.
Lakers sign Rob Pelinka to contract extension
The person responsible for making the Lakers’ draft picks is Rob Pelinka, and that isn’t changing anytime soon as the organization announced that he signed a contract extension that also included a promotion to president of basketball operations.
“For eight seasons, I have relied on Rob’s vision and leadership to do what’s best for the Lakers organization,” said Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss. “I value his partnership and professionalism and believe in his ability to deliver championship-caliber basketball for Los Angeles and Lakers fans everywhere.”
