Lakers Trade Up to Draft Adou Thiero in 2nd Round as NBA Fans Hype Athletic Prospect

The Los Angeles Lakers traded up to draft one of the most athletic prospects of the second round of the 2025 NBA draft.

The Lakers moved up to No. 36 in order to select former Arkansas star Adou Thiero on Thursday night, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

Fans are now excited to see Thiero join LeBron James and Luka Dončić in Los Angeles.

The Lakers started out with the No. 55 pick before trading up twice to grab Thiero, according to Charania.

Los Angeles sent the No. 45 pick and cash to the Minnesota Timberwolves in order to move up to No. 36, according to Charania.

The franchise had preciously acquired the No. 45 selection by sending the No. 55 pick and cash to the Chicago Bulls, per Charania.

Thiero was limited by a knee injury at the end of his junior college season, but still averaged 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals through 27 games for Arkansas.

He shot 54.5 percent from the field and 25.6 percent from deep, and ranked 46th in the nation with 45 total dunks on the season.

Although Thiero was limited throughout the draft process by his knee, ClutchPoints' Anthony F. Irwin reported on Thursday that the Lakers "are confident it won't be an issue moving forward."

After the conclusion of Wednesday's first round, Thiero was ranked No. 11 on Bleacher Report's 2025 NBA Draft Big Board heading into Round 2.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman wrote that Thiero's "shooting remains problematic, but he's improved his ability to create for himself inside the arc, a needed development that has turned him into a more versatile scoring threat in the half court."

"Between the open-floor athleticism for transition offense, the play-finishing, defensive playmaking and now the tougher driving ability, teams could start to talk themselves into an outlier, non-shooting wing or combo forward," Wasserman wrote.

The use of cash to climb the second round of the draft comes less than two weeks after Charania reported the Buss family, longtime owners of the Lakers, are entering into an agreement to sell the team to billionaire Mark Walter and his holding company. The sale is expected to close later this year.