The Los Angeles Lakers have the 25th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. As of now, they don’t have a second-round pick; however, it is worth noting that the Lakers have been involved in a second-round trade during or just leading up to the draft three of the last four years. And in 2021, the Lakers signed arguably the best undrafted free agent of the 2020s in Austin Reaves.When the Lakers were swept in the West semifinals by the Oklahoma City Thunder, they struggled to defend Ajay Mitchell, a 2024 second-round pick. When general manager Rob Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick held a joint media availability to preview the offseason, Mitchell came up repeatedly as an example of the kind of player they’d want to draft and develop into a meaningful contributor.“I don’t necessarily view depth as a rotation thing,” Redick said. “Whether you play 8-9, whether you play 11-12, you need to have depth. And that depth typically comes in sort of the roster spots 10 through 15. And whether that’s internal development, draft, trade, free agency, whatever it is, we need to build depth beyond just an eight- or nine-man rotation.”The Lakers are in an interesting spot. To describe the 2026 roster as top-heavy might be an understatement. They had the league’s leading scorer in point guard Luka Dončić. They had the league’s all-time leading scorer in forward LeBron James. And they had one of the league’s top number two scorers in Reaves. Still, depth was inconsistent, and the young players rarely made a lasting impression in the rotation, a key difference between the Lakers and the true contenders in the West.“We can figure out what a rotation looks like,” Redick said. “But you look at OKC’s roster, you look at San Antonio’s roster. Those guys, they have 13 high-level rotation players, minimum. That’s a luxury to have in the NBA, and it’s one of the reasons those teams are really good.”