The Los Angeles Lakers have a 15 percent chance of winning Tuesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery, and while most teams are crossing their fingers for the ping pong balls to fall in their favor, Colin Cowherd believes the Lakers should hope they don’t get the No. 1 overall pick.
The FOX Sports 1 radio host said Monday that he believes the Lakers would be put in a pickle if they get the top selection, especially if they covet UCLA star Lonzo Ball.
“Tomorrow, I think the Lakers could be making a mistake,” Cowherd said, as transcribed by FOX Sports’ Nick Schwartz. “The Lakers still have a chance – not a great one, 16 to 17 percent – to get the No. 1 pick. I think they see Lonzo Ball as (the guy). ‘Oh, he’s just going to move the meter, he’s going to change everything.’
“You can be a star on television, it doesn’t make you a movie star. And you can be a star in college, it doesn’t make you an NBA star.”
The Lakers have the third-best odds of winning the lottery, only trailing the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns. But if their pick falls outside the top three, it then becomes the property of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Ball is seen as a Jason Kidd-type point guard who will be able to make his teammates better, but Cowherd believes that’s not worth the top pick.
“If the Lakers have the third pick… even the second, I get taking Lonzo Ball. Lonzo Ball is thought of as the third- or fourth-best player, best prospect (in the draft). And by the way, one of the guys he’s considered better than or close to is De’Aaron Fox, who played against him and dropped 39 on him and humiliated Lonzo Ball.”
Markelle Fultz, Josh Jackson and Ball all are options if the Lakers land the No. 1 overall selection. Los Angeles just has to hope it chooses correctly if the ping pong balls fall its way Tuesday night.
Thumbnail photo via Nelson Chenault/USA TODAY Sports Images
