As the Lakers look to be trending downward following their title in 2020, the natural inclination is to look towards the future to determine how they can get good again.The most obvious ways to do so are through free agency, the draft, or trades (often using draft picks).
But the Lakers don’t have that luxury of looking toward the draft, at least not in the immediate future. Their trade for Anthony Davis sapped up the vast majority of their outright control over their own draft picks through direct giveaways and picks swaps with the Pelicans, and while the end result was a championship, it also created a team that is going to have very few draft selections in the short-term, and even fewer tradeable picks.