NBA Rumors: Lakers still not sold on Lonzo Ball, leaving the door ajar for De’Aaron Fox

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to mull over who they’ll take with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Assuming Markelle Fultz goes No. 1 to the Boston Celtics, the draft really gets interesting once the Lakers go on the clock, as there appears to be several players in the running for that spot.

There were reports recently that the Lakers needed to see a great workout from Lonzo Ball in order to take him with the second pick. However, Ball’s recent meeting with the Lakers wasn’t good enough to assure of him being their pick, according to Bleacher Report.

Yet Ball also didn’t blow the Lakers away or seal any deal in the time he spent with their officials Tuesday and Wednesday, according to sources.

The Lakers remain intrigued by Markelle Fultz and Josh Jackson, and to a lesser extent De'Aaron Fox, along with Ball for their No. 2 overall pick.

Ball didn’t separate himself clearly from the pack.

You could make compelling arguments for Fox, Jackson and Ball being the superior prospect of the three, so it won’t be a surprise to see any of them go there. Seeing the ‘lesser extent’ tag for Fox is discouraging, but mind you, this is before he has his own workout and meeting with the Lakers later this week. Perhaps that will be what puts him over the edge to be L.A.’s pick at No. 2.

Whoever does ultimately land with the Lakers could be in for a bright future, which will get even brighter if LeBron James is part of it. According to The Ringer, LeBron is already considering a move to a new team in 2018, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

It sounds like he may already have an exit plan to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and form a new super team in L.A., where he owns a home that’s very close to the Staples Center.

Here’s an excerpt of the report:

Rumblings across the league suggest that LeBron will consider taking his talents out West, as Bill Simmons and I discussed this week on The Bill Simmons Podcast. The LeBron noise echoes what The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote last year: With a Finals victory for Cleveland secure, James could get to “run off with his buddies again somewhere warm.”

Multiple league sources I’ve spoken to think the Lakers or Clippers are viable destinations for King James. Jalen Rose said this week on First Take that he expects LeBron to make a move from Cleveland to California, where he already owns a house 30 minutes away from Staples Center.

The Lakers make sense if LeBron wants to build a sustainable winner with a core blend of veterans and youthful talent like Paul George — if, as NBA gossip suggests, George truly is “hell-bent” on going to L.A. — and Brandon Ingram.

The thought of Fox being the point guard for LeBron is an exciting thought, but a lot has to happen for that to ever become a reality.