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The Los Angeles Lakers may be looking at a future without LeBron James.
This is likely the King's last season in Hollywood, even if he chooses to push off retirement and keep playing elsewhere.
And in that world, the Lakers will have to start thinking about what kind of athletic playmakers they can add on the wing alongside Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
The 2026 NBA Draft will be a good place to make inroads on that task.
Right now, the Lakers would pick 22nd in the draft. And ESPN's Jeremy Woo, in a new mock, predicts they would take Baylor's Tounde Yessoufou.
Yessoufou is a freshman phenom who looks a lot like Anthony Edwards (although his grown-man beard this season has taken away the exact look slightly). His game compares in a lot of ways, too.
"Yessoufou's one-and-done case hasn't been as clear-cut as some expected a couple of months ago, with his iffy shooting (31% from 3) and struggles getting to the rim remaining areas for improvement," Woo writes. "Baylor's lack of dynamic guard play hasn't made his life easier. His excellent frame and room to grow defensively present upside, but his below-average ball skills make it hard to see him consistently creating efficient offense for himself in the near future. He'll need a strong second half of the season to solidify his spot in this range, but he remains an interesting bet as the draft thins out in the 20s."
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Yessoufou was a four-star recruit out of Santa Maria, California, who 247Sports ranked as the No. 17 player in the Class of 2025.
He's listed at 6-foot-6, 210 pounds (Edwards is listed at 6-4, 225).
Yessoufou is originally from the African nation of Benin. He literally broke the backboard in his first-ever high school game.
Now, he could wind up with the Lakers to compete in the Western Conference against the likes of Edwards.
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