Everyone knows the Los Angeles Lakers need a starting-caliber center who is defensive minded in order to become true championship contenders. But they also need help at the guard and wing spots, where they seriously lack depth.
They won’t have a first-round draft pick this year, but they will have a second-round selection at the No. 55 slot. The chances of landing a player who will earn a consistent rotation spot so low in the draft are always slim, but the Lakers have hit on second-round picks in recent years.
A recent Bleacher Report mock draft has Los Angeles taking an intriguing player in the second round this year in Eric Dixon, a potent scorer from Villanova University.
“There are a lot of questions about Eric Dixon’s fit at the next level, such as who does he defend and will he create separation offensively,” Jonathan Wasserman wrote. “But late in the second round, teams will at least talk about the nation’s leading scorer who just hit 94 threes at 6’8”, 265 pounds.
“He may have become a sharp enough shotmaker for teams to see some type of stretch-4 and pick-and-pop role.”
Dixon played five years in college, all of them with Villanova, and he led all of men’s Division I basketball with an average of 23.3 points a game this past season. He attempted 7.2 3-point attempts a game and made 40.7% of them this past season, and he could therefore help Los Angeles improve its outside shooting, which is one of the areas in which it needs to improve.
The forward also showed the ability to get to the free throw line fairly often, and he made a strong 81.3% of his attempts at the charity stripe during his time with the Wildcats.
However, scouts are concerned about his ability to defend at an acceptable level, and he also lacks athleticism. L.A. needs an infusion of speed and athleticism, especially since Luka Doncic loves to pitch the basketball ahead in transition and look to throw lob passes to teammates.
The No. 55 pick in the NBA draft is the epitome of a gamble, albeit a low-risk one, so the Lakers could do much worse than taking a flyer on Dixon.
