Why I'm No Longer At The Athletic + Lakers’ 2025 NBA Draft W/ Mike Garcia

Jovan Buha welcomes Mike Garcia (@CanyonDriver) to break down the Los Angeles Lakers and the 2025 NBA Draft. Jovan and Mike discuss the 2025 NBA Draft, including whether the Lakers should trade up, potential center targets such as Khaman Maluach, Thomas Sorber, and Derik Queen, late first-round and early-to-mid second-round prospects, candidates for the No. 55 pick, and the value of the Lakers' trade assets in this draft, among other topics. If you enjoy this episode, please consider subscribing, rating, and reviewing. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:07 Why I’m no longer at The Athletic 7:53 Mike Garcia 8:05 Why is this draft so difficult to assess? 9:28 How has LA’s draft approach changed recently, if at all? 10:43 Can LA trade up to solve its roster issues? 12:47 How would Maluach fit? Worth trading up for? 15:30 Thomas Sorber + favorite late first-round targets 17:16 Any potential 3-and-D wings or guards in 21-to-35 pick range? 19:09 Early-to-mid second-round targets? 21:36 Hidden gems in late second round 22:46 Targets for the No. 55 pick 27:42 Two-way and summer league targets 32:13 Draft compensation value of LA’s future 1st, Dalton Knecht + Rui Hachimura 40:06 What does Mike’s dream draft look like? 42:30 What about Derik Queen? 48:06 Is there some Mark Williams in Maluach’s game? 50:06 Outro 50:46 Tune in for my Draft Live Show! Timestamps are subject to change based on ad placement and duration.