The five biggest draft blunders in Lakers history

Throughout the history of the Los Angeles Lakers, there have been some glorious moments on draft day that served as a prelude to some of the franchise’s biggest accomplishments, not to mention some of their 17 NBA championships.

There was the drafting of Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, the two legends who put pro basketball on the map in the Southland during the 1960s.

The year 1979 brought the selection of one Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and three years later, the team had the good fortune of taking James Worthy with the top pick, just weeks after winning the world championship.

But the Lakers have also certainly had their fair share of draft blunders.

Mike McGee

McGee was a 6-foot-5 guard who was taken by the Lakers with the 19th overall pick in the 1981 NBA Draft.

He wasn’t a terrible player, as he provided some scoring punch off the bench and averaged 8.2 points in 15.0 minutes a game in five seasons with the Purple and Gold.

However, the team passed up a much better player who could’ve been a major part of the success it was about to achieve.

It was early in the Showtime era, and the Lakers were looking for the final pieces to a consistent championship puzzle, especially since they had just lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Houston Rockets.

Jerry West, who was then a scout for the team, and general manager Bill Sharman wanted to draft Larry Nance, a high-flyer for Clemson University. But owner Dr. Jerry Buss gave the final say to head coach Paul Westhead, who was in love with McGee’s ability to score in bunches.

Nance, who was taken one pick later after McGee, would’ve been a great fit on those Showtime teams. In addition to his ability to throw down highlight dunks, he was a good rebounder and an excellent shot blocker, and he averaged a robust 17.1 points per game for his career.

Those Lakers’ big positional weakness was power forward, and at 6-foot-10, Nance would’ve given them a borderline All-Star at that spot.

Imagine them in the mid-1980s if Nance had the good fortune of running with Johnson, Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper.

Anthony Peeler

Here’s another player who wasn’t bad but was taken instead of someone better.

Peeler was a star at the University of Missouri, where he averaged 23.4 points a game as a senior and shot lights-out from 3-point range at 41.7 percent.

L.A. took him with the 15th pick in the 1992 draft. It came just after Johnson’s retirement, and West, who was now the team’s general manager, was perhaps hoping Peeler would become a star and help the team stay respectable in the 1990s.

In four seasons with the team, the shooting guard averaged 10.6 points in 22.7 minutes a game, and he was only traded in 1996 as a salary dump move to clear cap space for Shaquille O’Neal.

But in drafting Peeler, the Lakers (and several other teams) passed on Latrell Sprewell, another shooting guard who became a four-time All-Star.

He became best known for choking coach P. J. Carlesimo in the late 1990s, but he also led the New York Knicks to an unexpected run through the NBA Finals in 1999.

In 13 seasons, Sprewell averaged 18.3 points a game.

West is regarded as the greatest executive in NBA history, but everyone makes mistakes, and drafting Peeler instead of Sprewell was one of his.

Devean George

Unlike McGee and Peeler, George was a certified bust.

Taken with the 23rd pick in the 1999 draft, he was thought by Phil Jackson and his coaching staff to be bursting with athletic talent, especially on the defensive end.

But George never panned out. Although he eventually gave the team some occasional shot-up 3-point shooting, the 6-foot-8 wing was, by and large, a liability on the court.

He was unable to create his own shot, and when he tried to do so, he was a turnover waiting to happen. In addition, his defense left a lot to be desired.

But what makes his selection even worse was the fact that L.A. passed up on Andrei Kirilenko, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward who was taken one pick later by the Utah Jazz.

Kirilenko instantly became a legitimate scoring threat and an outstanding shot-blocker for the Jazz who made three All-Defensive teams.

As the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant era progressed in the early 2000s, the Lakers suffered more and more from a lack of depth and viable young role players. Kirilenko would’ve greatly helped with those problems, and maybe, just maybe, his presence could’ve helped them win one more NBA title during that era.

Lonzo Ball

OK, Ball is not exactly a bust, and even if he’ll never be an All-Star, he’s a good, complementary player to have on a good team.

After all, he was one of the pieces who landed the Lakers Anthony Davis nearly three years ago.

However, the Lakers drafted him instead of Jayson Tatum, and in retrospect, it seems a little dumb.

At the time, many got suckered by the Ball hype, including Johnson, who was the team’s president of basketball operations at the time.

Tatum, meanwhile, has just led the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals, and although he has trouble stringing together great games in succession, he’s only 24, so he still has some time to develop into a true superstar.

Moritz Wagner

The Lakers took Wagner, a native of Germany, with the 25th pick in the 2018 draft.

He was thought to have some potential as a big man who could stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting, but in four NBA seasons, he has been nothing more than a bit player for four different teams.

Instead of Wagner, L.A. could’ve taken Robert Williams, who is now a shot-blocking force for the Celtics, Jalen Brunson, the Dallas Mavericks’ up-and-coming guard or Gary Trent Jr., a 3-and-D wing for the Toronto Raptors.

The Lakers are rumored to have some interest in trading for Trent in the coming weeks. Instead, they could’ve just drafted him four years ago.

Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire