With Clippers’ climb in standings, Lakers lose second-round pick

With the Clippers winning their final game of the regular season on Tuesday night, finishing with a 56-26 record, the Lakers lost a second-round pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

The Lakers acquired Jeremy Lin along with two picks from the Houston Rockets in July, including a protected second from the Clippers.

The Rockets originally received the Clippers’ pick from the Toronto Raptors, in a complicated set of moves involving players no longer in the league (Hassan Adams and David Andersen).

The Clippers’ current seven-game winning streak guaranteed their pick will climb no higher than 56th. Instead of going to the Lakers, the second-rounder will convey to the Denver Nuggets for another player whose NBA journey has come and gone (Cheikh Samb).

The Rockets also sent their own first-rounder to the Lakers, which will fall in the 25 to 28 range, depending on the final standings and any necessary league-generated tiebreakers.

The Lakers still have their own first- and second-round selections, but will lose their first if it slides from four to six or seven in May’s draft lottery. The Lakers sent the pick to the Phoenix Suns for Steve Nash, which was in turn re-routed by Phoenix to the Philadelphia 76ers.

At fourth in the lottery, the Lakers have an 82.8% chance of keeping their pick.

The Lakers also traded away their top-40 protected, second-round pick to the Orlando Magic in the Dwight Howard trade. At 34th overall, the pick will stay with the Lakers and their obligation to the Magic will be extinguished.

Assuming the Lakers don’t trade for another pick, or pawn one off, at worst the team will have two picks. Having lost the Clippers’ selection, the best case scenario is two first-round picks and the Lakers’ own 34th overall selection.

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