The 2017 NBA Draft featured no shortage of talent. Some of the better players fell in the draft, such as Bam Adebayo and Jarrett Allen. Others have yet to live up to their potential, such as 2017 No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz. The Los Angeles Lakers had the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, and they had a difficult decision to make.
Los Angeles ended up deciding to draft Lonzo Ball. The Boston Celtics, meanwhile, had the No. 3 overall pick. Boston selected someone who would end up becoming the best overall player from the 2017 NBA Draft class. His name?
Why did the Lakers pass on drafting Tatum? In their defense, Ball featured potential and his career has been impacted by injury trouble. Tatum, however, is an NBA superstar. Magic Johnson, who was the team's president of basketball operations at the time, recently revealed that Tatum's agent did not want the Duke basketball product to even work out for the Lakers.
"We needed a point guard at that time, that's why we took Lonzo Ball," Johnson said, via SiriusXM NBA Radio. "We didn't need the locker room to have any problems with another young forward. But I'm happy what's happened for Jason because he's been amazing with the Celtics... Yes, we looked at him. But his agent also didn't want us to work him out because he didn't want him to end up with the Lakers because we were already top-heavy with forwards.
"And that's why they wouldn't work out for us. See, I was there so I can tell Jayson what really happened. His agent didn't want him to work out for us because he knew it wasn't a good situation because we already had too many forwards."
Would Lakers have drafted Jayson Tatum even if he had worked out for LA?
Johnson made it clear that the Lakers already had too many forwards. They were seemingly always going to select Lonzo Ball. Still, a workout may have changed their minds. After all, they could have traded one or two of their other forwards to make room for a star such as Tatum. According to Johnson, though, Tatum's agent had no interest in a potential workout.
Sure, it is easy to say that the Celtics have been far more successful ever since the draft. The fact of the matter is that both Los Angeles and Boston have won one championship since 2017, however. The Lakers earned an NBA Finals victory in 2020 in the NBA Bubble, while the Celtics got the job done in 2024.
Still, one can only wonder what may have occurred had the Lakers selected Jayson Tatum in the 2017 NBA Draft.
