The Los Angeles Lakers will step to the podium with the No. 25 pick when the 2026 NBA Draft opens Tuesday.
After a season that ended with a second-round sweep at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the front office has a clear mandate: Build around Luka Doncic, and start by addressing the frontcourt and shooting that the playoffs exposed. The challenge is that the late first round is notoriously hard to predict, and this year is no exception. The names mock drafters have attached to the Lakers have shifted as the draft has drawn closer, a sign that the team’s plan at No. 25 is far from settled with the clock ticking down.
The Latest Name: Jayden Quaintance
The freshest projection comes from ESPN’s Jeremy Woo, whose final pre-draft mock sends Kentucky center Jayden Quaintance to the Lakers at No. 25. Woo framed the selection as a best-player-available move, pointing to how badly Los Angeles needs a true vertical threat in the frontcourt as the reason Quaintance fits.
What makes Quaintance fascinating is the gap between his talent and his health questions. Scouts broadly grade him as a first-rounder, and some have him in play well before the Lakers pick, but lingering concerns about his knee have muddied his stock. He underwent surgery in March 2025 to repair a torn ACL suffered at Arizona State, then appeared in only four games at Kentucky this past season as the program managed his recovery cautiously.
Per Woo, his eventual landing spot could hinge on how comfortable each team’s medical staff feels with the knee. For the Lakers, the upside is easy to see. Doncic has spent his career making rim-running, lob-catching bigs more dangerous, and Quaintance fits that mold as an explosive finisher and shot-blocker.
The risk is real, tied to his durability and how much polish his game still needs, but using a late first-round pick on a player who would have gone considerably higher if not for injury is the kind of bet that pays off when it hits. For a team picking just once and badly in need of frontcourt talent, that calculated swing may be more appealing than a safer, lower-ceiling option.
The Earlier Consensus: Henri Veesaar
For weeks, the name most frequently mocked to the Lakers was North Carolina center Henri Veesaar, and he remains very much in the conversation. Several analysts had previously paired Los Angeles with Veesaar before their boards shifted, with the reasoning centered on the same idea: Center is the roster’s clearest hole.
Veesaar would represent a clear step up from what Deandre Ayton offered. The Carolina product offers a different profile than Quaintance. At 7 feet, the Estonian big man moves well for his size and brings a skill set built around floor spacing, having shot 42.6 percent from 3-point range on three attempts per game while averaging 17.0 points and 8.7 rebounds at North Carolina last season. That shooting touch is the specific trait that makes him appealing for a Lakers roster heavy on perimeter creators but light on frontcourt range.
In Woo’s latest mock, Veesaar actually comes off the board one pick ahead of the Lakers, to the New York Knicks at No. 24, a reminder that the Lakers’ preferred target may not survive to their selection. If Veesaar is gone, the team’s plans shift in real time on draft night.
The Wing Alternative: Dailyn Swain
Not every projection has the Lakers going center. Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman has mocked Texas wing Dailyn Swain to Los Angeles, calling him a “Swiss Army knife” prospect and crediting his growth as a shot creator, his floater and his passing as evidence he can fill several roles at once.
The logic behind a wing pick is sound. With ball-dominant creators in Doncic and, presumably, Austin Reaves, the Lakers need players who can thrive off the ball, defend on the wing and knock down catch-and-shoot looks. Swain has improved his outside shooting to a career-best 34.4 percent from deep as a junior and brings the kind of two-way versatility that fits cleanly next to the team’s stars. Swain represents the safer, more positionally flexible route compared to the boom-or-bust profile of an injured big like Quaintance.
Other Names in the Mix
Beyond the three most-mocked options, several prospects have surfaced as Lakers possibilities across recent mock drafts, underscoring just how unsettled the pick is. Los Angeles has been linked to Duke wing Isaiah Evans, a 6-foot-6 shooter who hit 38.0 percent from 3-point range across two college seasons and made 2.7 threes per game last year, a total that would rank second on the Lakers roster behind only Doncic.
Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr. has also been mocked to the Lakers in multiple projections. A raw but highly athletic 19-year-old big, Cenac fits the team’s need for frontcourt athleticism and moves well without the ball, though his rawness makes him more of a long-term swing than an immediate contributor.
Los Angeles has also been linked to Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson, one of the more NBA-ready players in this range. The 6-foot-9 senior averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists last season and brings rare passing vision for his size, the kind of older, plug-and-play prospect that often appeals to a contending team looking for immediate rotation help rather than a developmental project. The sheer range of names, from injured bigs to floor-spacing centers to versatile wings, reflects a draft class widely viewed as deep in the late first round, giving the Lakers genuine flexibility regardless of how the board falls ahead of them.
The Trade Wild Card
There is also a real chance the Lakers do not use the pick at all. With only one selection and pressing needs that the draft alone cannot solve, the front office has been linked to exploring trade scenarios, including packaging the pick to move up for a higher-tier prospect or trading it for an established rotation player.
That uncertainty ties directly to the team’s bigger offseason puzzle. The Lakers are simultaneously navigating new contracts for LeBron James and Reaves, and how those negotiations unfold could influence whether the No. 25 pick becomes a draft selection, a trade chip or part of a larger move. The draft does not happen in a vacuum for Los Angeles. It is one piece of an offseason where every decision is connected to the next.
What to Watch Tuesday
The throughline across every projection is that the Lakers need talent at center and shooting on the wing, and the late first round offers candidates for both. Whether the team lands a high-upside swing like Quaintance, a floor-spacing big like Veesaar, a versatile wing like Swain or pivots to a trade entirely, the pick will signal how aggressively Los Angeles plans to reshape its roster around Doncic this summer.
With the draft Tuesday and free agency opening June 30, the No. 25 pick is the first domino in what promises to be a defining offseason. By Tuesday night, the Lakers will have made their first move. The rest of the summer will follow from there.
