Lakers Predicted to Land 6-Foot-11 Russian Big Man

The future of the Los Angeles Lakers is much more interesting now that the Buss family has sold the majority ownership of the franchise to Mark Walter. It’s hard to imagine the new ownership will move on from general manager Rob Pelinka so quickly, but he doesn’t have nearly the job security he had before.

His first chance to show new ownership that he deserves to stick around is the upcoming NBA Draft on June 25. The Lakers don’t hold a first-round pick in the draft, so there won’t be too much pressure to land a star, but landing a rotational player with a late second-round pick would certainly be a good first impression to Walter.

It’s no secret that the Lakers’ biggest need is at center. Jaxson Hayes is a free agent, and it’s hard to imagine the team wants to bring him back after his performance in the playoffs.

It’s unlikely Los Angeles finds their starting center with the No. 55 pick in the second round, but they could find a young player to develop. Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN put together a two-round mock draft ahead of the draft, and they project the Lakers to select Clemson center Viktor Lakhin.

Draft Profile on Lakhin

Lakhin started his college career at Cincinnati before transferring to Clemson. He is from Russia, but has been in the United States since 2020.

At 6-foot-11, he has great size and has some offensive upside. He hit 37.5% of his 3-point shots last season. In NBA.com’s scouting report on Lakhin, they praised his versatility.

“Lakhin has developed into a versatile big man. He’s a smart and accurate passer, can hit 3s and knows how to play in the post,” NBA.com wrote. “On defense, he’s primarily a rim protector but can switch out on the perimeter and not look lost. He’s a theoretical 3-and-D big who can also do a bit of playmaking and score on smaller defenders in the paint.”

Though NBA.com sees him as a second-round prospect, they think his upside could compare favorably to some very good current and former players.

“A projected second-round pick, the team that drafts Lakhin may use him initially to space the floor and protect the rim, but there’s some scalability to his game that could allow his role to expand,” NBA.com added. “There are similarities in his game to other versatile big men like Al Horford or Lamar Odom.”

Lakers Should Have Busy Offseason

When Walter’s group bought the Los Angeles Dodgers, they wasted no time revamping the operation. The Lakers have an outdated way of doing a lot of things, but that’s going to be the case.

The first big task is finally putting together a true scouting department. That doesn’t help the Lakers much with this year’s draft, but the future should be much brighter with more resources dedicated to scouting.

Pelinka is likely to hang around for at least this season, but he’s definitely on notice. He’s another failed Russell Westbrook-type trade away from likely never being a general manager again.