The Los Angeles Lakers will not have a first-round draft pick this year, as they owe the New Orleans Pelicans one more first-rounder to satisfy the terms of the trade that brought them Anthony Davis in 2019. But they will have a second-round pick that will fall at No. 55.
Last year, of course, the Lakers took Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, with the No. 55 pick in the draft. This year, there won’t be any players who seemed destined to head to them at No. 55, but they will do their due diligence, especially since they need more depth and support around the ender James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
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Samson Johnson, a big man from the University of Connecticut, reportedly had a pre-draft workout scheduled with the Lakers.
Sampson is 6-foot-10 and 225 pounds and is originally from Togo, a country in West Africa. He attended high school in New Jersey and was rated the No. 39 high school recruit in the nation by ESPN.
As a senior this past season, he averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 19.3 minutes a game for a Huskies team that was going for a third straight men’s national championship but ended up losing early in the tournament to eventual champion University of Florida.
He has a high motor and plenty of athleticism, and while his offensive game is very raw, he has solid defensive instincts and the ability to become a rim protector and a nice lob threat in the pick-and-roll game.
The Lakers obviously need talent, athleticism and depth at the center position. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt them to draft Johnson and plug him into their new player development ecosystem as a project player for a few years down the road.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: 2025 Lakers draft prospects: Samson Johnson