[Luciano Pagliarini]

Draft rumors The Lakers held internal discussions about trading back two spots to No. 4 if the Suns were to offer them a 2018 first-round pick. The Suns hold their own 2018 pick (which currently projects to be a high lottery pick) as well as the rights to the Miami Heat's 2018 pick. The latter pick is top-seven-protected in 2018 but unprotected in 2019.The Lakers believe that Ball or Jackson might be available at the No. 4 spot. If not, the Lakers are still very high on Fox and Tatum, and believe that securing an additional prospect might be worth dropping two spots in the draft.The Kings are another potential trade partner for the Lakers. They hold the rights to the fifth and 10th picks and have discussed moving up in this year's draft.At No. 5, the Lakers might still be able to choose between Fox and Tatum (and potentially Ball), or just take the best prospect who's available. And at No. 10, other strong prospects -- such as Malik Monk, Dennis Smith, Frank Ntilikina, Lauri Markkanen, Kennard and/or Zach Collins -- would likely still be on the board. (It should be noted that the Lakers are not considering taking Smith with the No. 2 pick.)The Lakers are looking for strong shooters, and several of the aforementioned prospects would help the franchise fill that void."The draft is so deep, it might be worth dropping out of the top two to get a couple of potential All-Stars," one rival GM said. "I'm not sure the gap between guys like Fox, Tatum and [Jonathan] Isaac is big enough to stop the Lakers from pulling the trigger. They'd be able to address two needs at really affordable contracts."From what I'm hearing, it sounds like the Lakers are unwilling to trade their pick if it means dropping out of the top five spots in the draft. They want to get at least one young player with star potential out of this draft, and feel confident they can acquire a veteran star during free agency in 2018.The hot name moving up fastest: Luke KennardKennard has been a polarizing prospect, but a consensus is starting to form among teams that have evaluated him recently.He started the college season as a fringe first-round prospect, but in recent weeks he's moved up fast. Based on conversations with GMs this week, I put him in the third tier of first-round-caliber players, but teams are increasingly grouping him with other