The Los Angeles Lakers hosted dozens of young players during their draft workouts in recent days, including Omari Moore — who was born in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Moore comes from Pasadena, Calif., and studied down south at San Jose State. He comes off the best season of his college career, averaging 13.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 30 games for the Spartans. The 6-foot-6 guard shot 47.8% from the field — and a scorching 42.9% from downtown.
After the workout concluded, Moore didn’t hide that it meant a lot to show his skills in front of Lakers coaches. “This was big for me. Appreciate the opportunity,” the 21-year-old wrote on Twitter:
This was big for me. Appreciate the opportunity @Lakers https://t.co/s1j8bEpN9h
— Omari Moore (@omari_moore13) May 31, 2022
Currently, the Lakers only have two Los Angeles natives on the roster. Russell Westbrook was born in Long Beach and spent his college career at UCLA.
Meanwhile, Stanley Johnson comes from the Anaheim area and played high school basketball at Mater Dei in Santa Ana, before enrolling at the University of Arizona in 2014.
Unfortunately, Moore is not someone that will be available to the Lakers as shortly after his workout he announced that he will be returning to San Jose State for his junior season. In addition to him, other players who have worked out for the Lakers such as Will Richardson and Drew Peterson also announced they’ll be returning to school.
Purdue’s Trevion Williams happy to visit L.A. for first time ahead of Lakers draft workout
Purdue’s Trevion Williams was another potential draftee who worked out for the Lakers on Tuesday. The 6-foot-10 forward traveled to L.A. for his sixth pre-draft showing of the year, hoping he will get his name called on June 23 just like his teammate and projected top-5 pick, Jaden Ivey.
Williams said attending back-to-back workouts can be challenging, but he has enjoyed visiting different places around the country — some of them, like L.A., for the first time.
“I put it in the work and I prepare myself for this, so it’s been a little tough, obviously, because you’ve got workouts back-to-back, but the bright side is you can see different places,” he said.
“Before this, I had never been to L.A., so you get to see you get to visit and see other places so that’s kind of the upside. You just got to find a way to have fun with your work. That’s what I’ve done. I’ve been out and kind of seen some of the beaches around here … it’s been great to get around to places.”
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