Los Angeles Lakers Will Consider De'Aaron Fox at Second Overall
When the Los Angeles Lakers landed the second overall pick in this year's draft, many observers believed that it was a forgone conclusion that they would select Lonzo Ball. But that might not be the case after all.
According to DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony, Ball is the "heavy favorite" right now, but he said the Lakers are also going to take a good look at De'Aaron Fox. Apparently, they are hoping for a head-to-head workout between the two.
Ball and his father, LaVar, may be grabbing the sports headlines right now, but Fox is a special player as well and a lot of people think he's the better all-around player.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
He simply played much better than Ball during their head-to-head matchups in college. In fact, Ball couldn't even keep up with him the last time they met.
Observers still think the Lakers are going to end up selecting Ball, but Sports Illustrated's Andrew Sharp has also come up with a good argument on why the Lakers should pick Fox instead.
"He's not a pure scorer, but the plan is to get that scoring from D'Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and/or a max free agent that comes later. In the meantime, while Russell has shown real promise as an off-ball scorer, defense is still very much an issue — and Fox can help mitigate the damage," Sharp said in his report.
"Playing Lonzo and D'Angelo in the backcourt would do the opposite. They're both a step slow, and neither player seems particularly invested in locking anyone down," he continued.
That's a good point. Fox is a lockdown perimeter defender and he can also wreak havoc on the offensive end with his elite end-to-end speed and quickness. He still needs to work on his jump shot, though, but that's his only weakness.
Ball is the more attractive pick right now, but the Lakers really need to consider Fox as an option as well.
