Lakers Pull Off Expensive Draft-Day Trade With Pacers

Getty Head coach Darvin Ham and general manager Rob Pelinka of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Los Angeles Lakers are moving up in the draft after swinging off a draft day trade with the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers sent the No. 47 pick and cash to the Pacers to the 40th overall pick in the draft, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. It was an interesting move from the Lakers to move up seven spots in the second round and the team sent a hefty $4.35 million to Indiana in the move, per team insider Tony East.

The Lakers now have the No. 17 overall pick along with their newly acquired No. 40 from the Pacers.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka either has his eye on a prospect that he’s hoping will land in that range or perhaps it’s part of a larger deal if they choose to package the picks together.

Lakers Linked to Pacers Stars Buddy Hield, Myles Turner

Getty ImagesBuddy Hield of the Indiana Pacers.

Frankly, it’s not the move that many were expecting between the Pacers and Lakers. Buddy Hield and Myles Turner are two players on the Pacers’ roster who the Lakers have been heavily linked to for quite some time.

Jovan Buha of The Athletic listed Hield and Turner as players the Lakers are eyeing with a potential draft-day move.

“Names around the league that have been linked to the Lakers in recent weeks include Indiana’s Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale, Toronto’s Gary Trent Jr. and Washington’s Kristaps Porziņģis, according to multiple league sources not authorized to speak publicly,” Buha wrote on June 21.

Hield has been linked to the Lakers for years now. He nearly landed with the Lakers in 2021 for Kyle Kuzma but that trade ended up falling through. LA instead landed Russell Westbrook, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster for all sides involved.

Hield would add some much-needed shooting for the Lakers. He averaged 16.8 points last season in Indiana, shooting better than 45 percent from beyond the arc.

Turner is another player the Lakers have sniffed around recently. He’s an excellent shot-blocker and rim protector, but can also shoot (37.3 percent from 3-point land). Turner averaged 18 points last season to go with 7.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks.

Lakers ‘Hunting’ for Move With First-Round Pick

The common sentiment from insiders is that the Lakers will not hang on to their first-round pick and are looking to make a move of some sort.

“Watch the Lakers,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on “First Take” on Thursday. “The Lakers are hunting around to do something at [pick] 17 — either move back to get an additional pick or to trade it for a veteran.”

If the Lakers stand pat at No. 17, CBS Sports has LA taking Jaime Jaquez Jr. out of UCLA.

“Twenty-two-year-olds don’t frequently climb this high in drafts, but Jaquez has had a strong few weeks on the pre-draft circuit and could be an exception,” Kyle Boone of CBS Sports wrote. “He’s a savvy, experienced guard who can be a creator and scorer and embraces his role as a defensive playmaker to boot.”