Lakers News: LeBron James Floored By Projected 2023 No. 1 Pick
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Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA small forward LeBron James was once the most-hyped league prospect in history. Seen as a surefire, can't-miss athlete, LBJ graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school sophomore at St. Vincent-St. Mary and had his games broadcast on ESPN, while making scouts drool at the possibility of selecting him.
So King James knows pre-draft hype. And apparently he's all-in on the Victor Wembanyama bandwagon.
The 18-year-old Frenchman, listed at 7'4" (although he sure looks taller to us), played his first stateside game Tuesday night at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada (a Las Vegas suburb). The anticipated top pick in the 2023 draft joined his club Metropolitans 92 in facing off against projected No. 2 pick Scoot Henderson and his squad, the G League Ignite.
Although Wembanyama's team lost, 122–115, he emerged as the big winner of the night, cementing his status as one of the most appetizing potential pros ever. He added 37 points on 11-of-20 shooting (including a whopping 7-of-11 from deep), chipped in five blocks and grabbed four rebounds. Henderson, to his credit, had 28 points while shooting 11-of-21 from the floor, plus nine dimes and five boards.
With the Lakers in Vegas proper last night for an eventual 119-115 preseason overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns at the T-Mobile Arena, James proved to be as excited about Wembanyama as all the breathless journalists and podcasters have been lately.
In addition to praising Wembanyama as a "generational talent," James also raved, “No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and graceful as he is on the floor," per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times.
He certainly passes the eye test:
We know what you're thinking, dear Lakers fans: "Oh, if this 2022-23 L.A. season goes south like it did last year, and LeBron James and Anthony Davis miss extensive time with injuries, we could just try to tank for this Wembanyama kid or whatever."
Not so fast.
As part of the Lakers' epic 2019 trade with the New Orleans Pelicans to land Davis, L.A. included swap rights for its 2023 draft selection. Even in a "best"-case draft lottery scenario, wherein both the Pelicans and Lakers suffer major star injuries and somehow finish with the worst records of the year (and thus, the highest lottery odds), New Orleans would ultimately snag L.A.'s draft pick, so even if Los Angeles landed the top pick and the Pellies received the second pick, they would ultimately swap for the superior pick. Barring a renegotiation of pick swap protections, there is no world in which Victor Wambanyama would be drafted by the Lakers next year.
