NBA Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Los Angeles Lakers, Lonzo Ball and More

The 2017 NBA conference finals have already begun. The draft lottery is literally hours away, and the NBA draft isn't too far off on the horizon. It's obviously a great time to be a basketball fan, but it's also a great time if you're a fan of rumors and speculation.

Will the Los Angeles Lakers win a lottery pick in the draft? Who will they draft if they do? How long is Kawhi Leonard going to remain out of the Western Conference Finals with an ankle injury? These are all questions we don't have answers to, but we have plenty of speculation surrounding them.

We're here to dig into the latest NBA rumors and news. We'll examine the latest draft- and playoff-related stories and speculation and give our thoughts on each situation.

Latest Buzz

Lakers Not Counting on a Lottery Pick

The Los Angeles Lakers are a team needing an influx of talent. They're also a team that could potentially lose a first-round draft pick to the Philadelphia 76ers if they do not earn a top-three selection in the draft lottery. 

This is because the Lakers traded away the pick to the Phoenix back in 2012 in the trade for Steve Nash. That pick was later acquired by Philadelphia, though it is a top-three protected pick. If the Lakers stay in the top three, they'll retain the pick. If they don't, the Sixers will get it—and they could then potentially end up with two picks in the first five selections.

However, the Lakers don't seem too worried about potentially losing out on the draft pick—at least that is the sentiment being presented by general manager Rob Pelinka.

"[Team president] Magic [Johnson] and I just have a real level of confidence and optimism," Pelinka said, per Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. "Our trust is in hard work and kind of just the pursuit of excellence with everything we do. It's not contingent on getting the pick or not getting the pick."

The silver lining for Los Angeles here is that the team will still end up with one first-round pick thanks to the trade that sent Lou Williams to the Houston Rockets:

The problem is that if the Lakers forfeit their own first-rounder, they'll miss out on a chance to add one of the premier prospects in this draft. Could they still end up with a good player? Sure. The chances of finding a truly transcendent talent, however, are a lot greater at the top of Round 1 than at the bottom.

LaVar Ball Really Wants His Son to Be a Laker

Raise your hand if you can't get enough of LaVar Ball talking about his sons. Something tells me it doesn't matter how hungry you are for it, Ball is going to give it to you.

For the past few months, the elder Ball has been on a veritable media tour touting his son Lonzo (and his pricey sneakers) to pretty much anyone who will listen. The latest to come from LaVar is his desire for Lonzo to end up with the Lakers.

"Oh, he's going to be a Laker," he said during a recent interview with Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. "I'm going to keep talking about it until it happens."

The reasons for Ball wanting his son in Los Angeles should be fairly obvious. Lonzo is a local product, L.A. is a big market, and the pairing could potentially work wonders for LaVar's Big Baller Brand. This is a fact not lost on former shoe company executive Sonny Vaccaro.

"That is a perfect setup," Vaccaro explained, per Shelburne. "If you take one thing from what I said, remember this: The Lakers are the salvation for him, and he's the salvation for the Lakers."

This is far from the first time LaVar has expressed his desire for Lonzo to play in Los Angeles.

"I'd like him to play for the Lakers because it's home and I'd love him to learn from Magic [Johnson]," he said, per Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com. "He's the best guard ever to me, and nobody better for Lonzo to learn from than Magic Johnson."

The catch here is that Lonzo Ball is widely perceived as one of the best players in the draft. If the Lakers don't end up with a top-three selection—and in turn lose their first-rounder to Philadelphia—there's practically no chance it will happen.

Leonard Out for Game 2 and Possibly Longer

Let's switch gears here and take a look over at the NBA playoffs. First of all, congratulations to the Boston Celtics, who took Game 7 over the Washington Wizards and will now face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors already played Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors took that game, but they needed a major comeback from a 20-point halftime deficit. That comeback might not have happened if not for the ankle injury suffered by Spurs star Kawhi Leonard.

The entire complexion of the game changed after Leonard was (seemingly) inadvertently injured by Golden State's Zaza Pachulia. Before the injury, the Spurs had outscored the Warriors 78-55. After the third-quarter injury, Golden State went on a 58-33 run. 

Is there a chance the Warriors would have still won with Leonard on the sideline? Sure. However, it's nearly impossible to argue that the task wouldn't have been more difficult. If you think Leonard could have made the difference—as most Spurs fans undoubtedly do—it's difficult to swallow losing out on at least a road split because of it.

Unfortunately, San Antonio will be without Leonard again for Game 2 and possibly beyond.

"We'll see what the MRI says, but obviously he won't play tomorrow," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, per the Associated Press' Josh Dubow (via NBA.com).

Per Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com, the MRI didn't reveal any significant damage:

While this is obviously good news for the Spurs and for Leonard, there's no guarantee he'll return in time for Game 3—Saturday, May 20—or even in the series.