Their original second first-round pick at #28, however, came from the Houston Rockets as an incentive to trade away Lou Williams in exchange for Corey Brewer.
On June 20, two days before the draft began, the Lakers would acquire a new first-round pick by getting the worst of the Brooklyn Nets' first-round picks at #27 alongside their star center Brook Lopez in a trade in exchange for star combo guard D'Angelo Russell and Russian center Timofey Mozgov.
With the 2nd pick of the draft, the Lakers selected their hometown star Lonzo Ball, who played point guard during his sole season at UCLA.
In Kuzma's final year at Utah, he joined Ball in being a member of the All-Pac-12 First Team by averaging 16.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists as a junior.
With their last pick in the first round of the draft, the Lakers selected senior shooting guard Josh Hart from Villanova University.