With any high-ish draft pick comes a certain amount of expectations. Throw around the term “lottery pick” and suddenly the thought process turns to “this guy should be pretty good”. Jump into the top five or into the top two, and the player is expected to be able to alter the course of a franchise.
Now, turn on the spotlight that comes with playing in Los Angeles and for the Lakers and expectations get ratcheted up more. You aren’t just a top draft choice who should play really well and help lead your team to relevancy, you are pitted against players like Magic, Kobe, and West or Worthy, O’Neal, and Abdul-Jabbar as players who won’t just contribute to the upward trajectory of the team, but become a relevant name the entire league can hold up as a standard.