The NBA draft always takes plenty of work in advance in order for teams to be confident with their selections when the draft clock begins ticking.
The Los Angeles Lakers have the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s draft, barring any trades.
With the draft date of July 29 fast approaching, the Lakers are continuing the evaluation process by conducting individual workouts with players.
Los Angeles also interviewed several players at the NBA draft combine in June, like Corey Kispert of Gonzaga, Trey Murphy III of Virginia and more.
Los Angeles’ preparation continued Wednesday as they worked out six prospects, via Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation:
Lakers having a few players in for draft workouts. July 7 draft workout participants:
Giorgi Bezhanishvili – Illinois
Matt Coleman III – Texas
LJ Figueroa – Oregon
Alan Griffin – Syracuse
Jason Preston – Ohio
Cody Riley – UCLA— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) July 7, 2021
These players aren’t projected to be first-round draft pick options for the Lakers, and it’s uncertain if they’ll go in the second round, too.
The Lakers could be doing more due diligence to add talent to the South Bay Lakers of the G League or during Summer League in Las Vegas.
From those six players, Giorgi Bezhanishvili and Cody Riley are small-ball big men, which are the type of players usually playing center in the G League.
Matt Coleman, LJ Figueroa, Alan Griffin and Jason Preston are all guards capable of knocking down 3-pointers on solid volume.
Preston is arguably the best prospect L.A. could add to evaluate further. At Ohio this past season, he averaged 15.7 points, 7.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals while shooting 51.4 percent from the field on 12.4 attempts and 39 percent from deep on 4.1 attempts. He’s listed as 6’4″, making for an intriguing player.
Preston talked with Lakers media after his session and had this to say, via Ryan Ward:
Jason Preston on what he wants the Lakers and other NBA teams to know about him: "I'm a winner."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) July 7, 2021
Los Angeles’ roster doesn’t comprise of many young prospects, so with the limited cap space L.A. is dealing with this summer, trying to find hidden gems could be a worthwhile investment.
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