The Los Angeles Lakers moved up two spots and secured the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery, which was the first piece of great news the franchise has received in quite some time.
The Minnesota Timberwolves won the lottery and jumped up to get the No. 1 overall pick with the New York Knicks coming out as the biggest losers in the lottery. New York finished with the worst record in the 2014/15 season and ended up getting jumped by the maximum of three teams despite having the best odds to win the lottery.
Players, coaches & legends abound as @russwest44, Byron Scott & Vlade Divac chat at #NBADraftLottery! pic.twitter.com/747sKowUuz — NBA Draft (@NBADraft) May 20, 2015
Lakers representative Byron Scott sat with a slight smile and with arms folded as the results were slowly revealed in a 30-minute special that took its time revealing the results.
Byron Scott giving Mark Jones the death stare as Jones reminds that the Lakers could lose their pick. — Brett Pollakoff (@BrettEP) May 20, 2015
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Immediately, fans and team officials rejoiced at the news that the Lakers had jumped up. With the selection, the Lakers are in line to draft either Jahlil Okafor out of Duke University or Karl-Anthony Towns out of the University of Kentucky.
The two prospects are considered the cream of the 2015 draft crop. Depending on which player the Timberwolves select, the Lakers would be expected to select the other. If Towns ends up with the Lakers, he would find a fellow Kentucky Wildcat in Julius Randle, who was the Lakers' lottery pick in 2014/15.
We played like crap all season so it's only right we get the #2 pick HA #lakerluck #goodday — Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) May 20, 2015
Another interesting result from the 2015 Draft Lottery is that the Timberwolves will likely have the three No.1 overall picks from the past three drafts playing together. Minnesota acquired Andrew Wiggins from Cleveland in a trade for Kevin Love, and Wiggins won the NBA Rookie of the Year award for the 2014/15 season. Anthony Bennett was drafted no. 1 overall in 2013 and also came along in the same trade for Love.
2015 #NBADraftLottery order: 1: MIN 2: LAL 3: PHI 4: NYK 5: ORL 6: SAC 7: DEN 8: DET 9: CHA 10: MIA 11: IND 12: UTA 13: PHX 14: OKC — NBA.com (@NBAcom) May 20, 2015
For the Lakers and LA, No. 2 felt like winning the lottery. Tuesday was a good day in Laker Land, a place where there have not been many good days recently.
