In 2017, the Los Angeles Lakers selected guard Lonzo Ball with the second overall pick in the draft. Outside of Markelle Fultz, who went No. 1 overall to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers had their pick of everybody in the draft. They opted to select Ball, who went to UCLA. This was no surprise to anybody. While Ball developed into a solid NBA player, his Lakers career was a bit underwhelming. The guard spent two seasons with the team before they traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans for Anthony Davis in 2019. All things considered, things worked out for the Lakers. However, many have wondered how different it would have been had the Lakers drafted somebody else–particularly Jayson Tatum.
At the time, Fultz and Ball were considered the consensus No. 1 and 2 choices in the draft. The next few picks, however, were a bigger mystery. Ultimately, the third overall pick was Tatum, who went to the Boston Celtics. Tatum, who grew up a Kobe Bryant fan and was open about wanting to become a Laker, has become a star in Boston. He is a five-time All-Star and a four-time All-NBA selection, and he led Boston to a championship earlier this year. It is interesting to consider how Tatum’s career would have fared if he ended up in Los Angeles.
In November, Tatum revealed on the Club 520 Podcast that the Lakers never even brought him in for a workout. Recently, NBA legend and former Lakers exec Magic Johnson shed some light on why this happened.
“I’m happy, what’s happened for Jayson — because he’s been amazing with the Celtics … I wanted to address that and let him know, yes, we looked at him. But his agent also didn’t want us to work him out, because he didn’t want him to end up with the Lakers,” Johnson said during an interview with SiriusXM. “Because we are already top-heavy with forwards, and that’s why they wouldn’t work out for us.
“See, I was there — so I can tell Jayson what really happened. His agent didn’t want him to work out for us, because he knew it wasn’t a good situation. After all, we already had too many forwards.”
[Jayson Tatum’s] agent didn’t want him to work out for [the Lakers]…because we already had too many forwards
Magic Johnson, Lakers Pres. of Basketball Operations (Feb. 2017–Apr. 2019), tells @JumpShot8 and @TermineRadio why LA didn’t draft Jayson Tatum with the 2nd overall pick pic.twitter.com/SYQjOF3854
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) December 17, 2024
Magic Johnson Reveals Why Lakers Did Not Draft Jayson Tatum
The Last Word On Jayson Tatum and the Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers won a championship in 2020 with LeBron James and made the Western Conference Finals in 2023. Furthermore, in addition to Ball, the Lakers also landed Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart in the 2017 NBA Draft. All things considered, it is unlikely that they regret not drafting Tatum over Ball. However, the Celtics star is the best player from the 2017 draft class and would have been a great addition to the Lakers.
