The prospect the Lakers allegedly made a promise to

Ambitious about next season, the Lakers will attack the 2021 offseason with a beating pace. As such, they could also try to strengthen themselves through the Draft. Several rumors thus state a possible agreement between LA and a future rookie!

Eliminated in the first round by Phoenix, the Lakers planned to wash away the affront as quickly as possible. For this, the front office of the franchise intends to succeed a big offseason, in order to properly rebuild the team. Lebron james and Anthony davis need a little support which they haven’t had with this year’s group.

Moreover, even if this is not their way of doing things at the moment, the Draft could also be used to inject talent into the squad. As such, a university player would have marked the spirits in LA: Chris Duarte, who played in Oregon. As Sam Vecenie explains from The Athletic, it is rumored that he and Californians would have agreed to land at Staples Center:

Duarte remains the name that comes up most often for the Lakers. He trains for teams above the Lakers in draft order, so I kinda doubt there’s a “promise” here – or anywhere – for Duarte, something about which league teams speculated throughout the pre-draft process. Nonetheless, His game is so cut out for the NBA that he’ll have no problem making an immediate impact.

Incidentally, note that the guy had declined his invitation to Combine, which stirred rumors about a possible agreement in principle with one of the 30 franchises. Could it therefore be the Purple and Gold? Possible. In any case, we would understand the interest of the Angelinos, in view of what he showed on the NCAA circuit. It is enough to see its highlights from the past season to realize its potential:

An excellent three-point shooter, athletic and known to be a big interceptor, Duarte has the right profile for modern 3 & D. Not a bad thing for LA, where Wes Matthews and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope struggled in 2020-21. The future rookie could therefore quickly gain ground in the Californian rotation. He would thus bring new blood to Frank Vogel’s group, which is always a good omen.

Chris Duarte at the Lakers, this is a rumor that should persist until the evening of the Draft. In any case, from what we have seen in college, the boy would have enough to lead a solid career in the NBA.