Game Day: Lakers, Clippers have choices to make

Editor’s note: This is the Thursday, June 22, 2023, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Good morning. It used to be that you knew roughly what to expect from the Lakers and Clippers, from the regular season to the playoffs to the guessing games surrounding the NBA draft. None of that has been true so far this year or is true here on draft day.

In other news: The Dodgers completed a two-game sweep of the Angels in the unlikeliest way, their bullpen outdueling Shohei Ohtani. Baseball columnist J.P. Hoornstra explores whether the sport has entered a new era in which 100-win “superteams” – like recent Dodgers teams – will be less common. L.A.’s profile in the golf world grew again with the announcement that the U.S. Open is coming to Riviera Country Club in 2031. LAFC got a goal from Mateusz Boguez 54 seconds after kickoff and made it hold up for a victory over Seattle, gaining sole possession of first place. The Galaxy gave up a penalty in the 90th minute and drew with Kansas City at a reinvigorated Dignity Health Sports Park. The rapid rise of Angel City FC’s Alyssa Thompson, 18, continued with her selection to the U.S. roster for the Women’s World Cup starting four weeks from today. The Hershey Bears beat the Coachella Valley Firebirds to win the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Final on Mike Vecchione’s overtime goal in Game 7 in Thousand Palms (Riverside County).

The two rounds of the NBA draft will begin with the San Antonio Spurs picking 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama of France, but uncertainty begins with the No. 2 pick belonging to the Charlotte Hornets and could make a mockery of even the most sober attempt at a mock draft.

That mystery extends to the Lakers, and what they’ll do with their picks in the first round (17th overall) and second round (47th), and it already has produced drama for the Clippers, and what will happen with their turns in the first round (30th, a pick they got from the Milwaukee Bucks in a trade) and second round (48th).

“Gone are the nights when the NBA draft was among the quietest of the calendar year for the Lakers,” Southern California News Group reporter Elliott Teaford writes in a Lakers draft preview.

At the same time, it’s not as if the success or failure of this Lakers’ offseason depends on getting a franchise-altering future star in the draft, which has the effect of broadening their options tonight.

Teaford highlights how much is up in the air for a team that has lived most of 2023 on the edge, barely getting into the playoffs and then going all the way to the Western Conference finals.

“What they do need are talented additions to a roster that’s headed by superstars LeBron James (assuming he doesn’t retire) and Anthony Davis (assuming he remains healthy) and supported by a youthful cast that includes emerging talents like Austin Reaves (assuming he re-signs) and Rui Hachimura (assuming he re-signs and continues to grow and prosper in the offseason),” Elliott writes.

It’s the same challenge this morning as it was right after the playoff loss to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets: Holding onto as many as possible of the young players around James and Anthony Davis, including Reaves and Hachimura, both restricted free agents (so the Lakers can match other teams’ offers), and D’Angelo Russell and other unrestricted free agents. And hoping that James isn’t serious about retiring after hinting at it following the Nuggets’ sweep.

As columnist Mirjam Swanson wrote: The Lakers should try to run it back with the team they rebuilt on the fly at the trade deadline.

It’s similar for the Clippers, who went from preseason contention to a one-sided first-round loss to the Phoenix Suns as both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George struggled again to stay healthy.

Gone are the days when their hopes for the near and distant future hinged on their first-round draft pick, usually one of the high ones.

The best thing they can do with their top draft pick this time might be to trade it, a prospect that Janis Carr details in a Clippers draft-day preview.

“Any attention the team garners will likely come from additional trades or moves long before the clock starts ticking,” Janis writes.

Just in the time this newsletter was starting to come together yesterday, the Clippers were reported to be making a three-team trade bringing them guard Malcolm Brogdon from the Boston Celtics and costing them guard Marcus Morris Sr. and forward Amir Coffey, only to have the deal fall apart late last night over the Clippers’ concerns about Brogdon’s injured shooting arm.

Two stars with injury issues are enough for a Clippers front office that faces some big non-draft questions, including whether they can re-sign free-agent guard Russell Westbrook.

For the Lakers and Clippers, draft choices themselves won’t make it a good or bad summer. Do you know how many of their own draft picks the teams have on their current rosters? Two for the Lakers (Russell, who went away and came back after being taken second overall in 2015), and Max Christie, 35th in 2022), one for the Clippers (guard Terrance Mann, 48th in 2019).

But sometimes draft days are about more than draft picks, sometimes in ways that are as hard to predict as everything else about the L.A. teams.

Keep up by bookmarking Lakers coverage here, Clippers coverage here, and following Elliott Teaford (@ElliottTeaford) and Janis Carr (@JanisCarr) on Twitter.

TODAY

• The NBA draft, from Brooklyn, features 58 picks over two rounds after two of the 30 teams lost picks because of free-agent tampering violations (5 p.m., Ch. 7, ESPN).

BETWEEN THE LINES

Going into tonight’s draft, betting on who’ll win the 2024 NBA title favors the reigning champion Nuggets at odds as low as +400 (bet 100 to win 400), with the Lakers fifth on the list at +1100 and the Clippers ninth at +1600. Odds from Covers.com.

280 CHARACTERS

“It is open to the public, which unfortunately includes a few parents who, if the past is a predictor, will talk crap to opposing team parents, coaches and even players.” — Orange County Register high school sports columnist Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) on the Battle at the Beach football 7v7 passing tournament July 1 at Edison High (Huntington Beach).

1,000 WORDS

Play at the plate: Catcher Will Smith fields a throw from left fielder David Peralta before tagging out Luis Rengifo trying to score from third on a fly ball, as umpire Alan Porter gets in position to make the call, in the third inning of the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over the Angels last night in Anaheim. Photo is by Keith Birmingham of the Pasadena Star-News and SCNG.