The 2015 NBA Draft will take place next month with the Los Angeles Lakers potentially having the opportunity to draft one of the best college basketball players available.
If the Lakers own the first or second pick overall, Los Angeles will likely have the chance to draft possibly the most talented player in the draft. Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns is getting a lot of buzz for being possibly the top pick in the draft and wearing purple and gold may be in his immediate future.
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Towns actually has some experience playing against NBA players with the potential number one overall pick playing for the Dominican Republic back in the summer of 2012. Towns faced Mike Krzyzewski’s Team USA led by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant in Las Vegas.
Towns talked about the game against the NBA’s best and a conversation he had with Kobe, via Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:
“The biggest thing I took away from that game was a confidence level that I could play with these players, that I can play with the best of the best,” Towns said. “Kobe talked to me. … He told me to make sure I keep working hard and he talked about some other things. We had a good conversation.”
Towns was only 16 when he went up against Kobe’s squad that eventually went on to win a gold medal in London during the 2012 Olympic Games. The promising young center took his talents to Kentucky and hasn’t forgotten the conversation he had with the five-time NBA champion.
As of right now, MyNBADraft.com has the Minnesota Timberwolves with the number one overall pick in the draft with Towns as their selection. Jahlil Okafor (Duke) is the second player taken in the mock draft by the New York Knicks followed by the Philadelphia 76ers going with D’Angelo Russell (Ohio State) at three and Emmanuel Mudiay (China) going to the Lakers with the fourth pick overall.
The consensus continues to be that Towns will be taken with the top pick. That stance could change with a little more than a month until the draft on June 25, but it’d be safe bet Towns will be the first name called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver on draft day.
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