Lakers could've had De'Aaron Fox or Lauri Markkanen if new NBA Draft lottery rules existed earlier
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The Los Angeles Lakers' NBA Draft history could've looked quite different if the new NBA Draft lottery rules existed a decade ago.
One of the components to the new rules is that a team won't be able to pick in the top-five for three years in a row.
If that had existed in 2015 and beyond, it would've altered the Lakers' outcomes.
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They picked D'Angelo Russell at No. 2 in 2015. Then in 2016, they got Brandon Ingram with the second pick.
L.A. came right back in 2017 with the second overall pick again and snagged Lonzo Ball.
But if this rule existed, they would've been bumped out of the top-three in 2017. Someone else likely would've grabbed Ball out of UCLA.
And if that had happened, there's no telling what the Lakers might've done.
Strong options later in the top-10 that year included De'Aaron Fox and Lauri Markkanen.
Worse options? The likes of Josh Jackson, Jonathan Isaac, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr. and Zach Collins.
There's no guarantee the Lakers would've done the right thing, and it's impossible to know how that would've played out the next decade of NBA Draft picks, records and offseason moves.
All that's for sure is that things would've been different.
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Three of the best picks of that draft actually came from 12 through 14: Luke Kennard, Donovan Mitchell and Bam Adebayo.
Kennard, of course, is with the Lakers now, and he's playing a starring role with Luka Doncic out in the postseason.
Maybe there's an alternate reality where the Lakers and Kennard are together much sooner -- or any of those above names come to L.A. instead of Lonzo.
But rules don't travel back in time, so it's all hypothetical.