{"id":475398,"date":"2026-02-18T07:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T07:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475398\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T07:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T07:23:07","slug":"los-angeles-lakers-predicted-to-make-questionable-move-with-draft-pick-despite-lebron-james-inching-closer-to-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475398\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers predicted to make questionable move with draft pick despite LeBron James inching closer to retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\/news\/lakers-predicted-draft-pick-lebron-james-closer-retirement\/9ded1fcb71237eaa2b8f1332?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Los Angeles Lakers predicted to make questionable move with draft pick despite LeBron James inching closer to retirement;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Los Angeles Lakers predicted to make questionable move with draft pick despite LeBron James inching closer to retirement<\/a> originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=appeared_on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The Sporting News;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Preferred Source by clicking here;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Los Angeles Lakers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> will have a chance to get better during the 2026 NBA Draft, but it remains uncertain if Rob Pelinka and the front office want to go that route. With Luka Doncic and LeBron James only getting older, if he decides to play next year, the Lakers could look to move their pick.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>However,\u00a0 Ricky O&#8217;Donnell of SB Nation thinks they\u2019ll add a player in this draft, predicting them to do so from an elite Michigan team.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Donnell projected Los Angeles to select Morez Johnson, highlighting the forward\u2019s impact on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJohnson can protect the paint defensively, score efficiently inside, and is just starting to flesh out his three-point stroke,\u201d O\u2019Donnell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbnation.com\/nba\/1103368\/nba-mock-draft-2026-lottery-sim-bulls-bucks-hawks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:wrote;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That defensive presence and inside scoring touch would give the Lakers another physical option in their big-man rotation, perhaps making him a player who could start early on in his career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would add some much needed physicality to the Lakers front court, and he has the length and strength to make up for being a tad short at 6\u20199,\u201d O\u2019Donnell added.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>While his perimeter shot remains something he needs to improve on, it could be something he figures out in the NBA. He\u2019s shooting 80.2% from free-throw range, and while that doesn\u2019t always translate, it\u2019s promising that the youngster can at least knock down his shots from the line.<\/p>\n<p>More NBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers predicted to make questionable move with draft pick despite LeBron James inching closer to retirement&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[3013,3031,1055,3014,98986,355,119654,220199,49169,42643,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-475398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-lebron-james","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","11":"tag-luka-doncic","12":"tag-morez-johnson","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-odonnell","15":"tag-ricky-o39donnell","16":"tag-rob-pelinka","17":"tag-sb-nation","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}