The Los Angeles Lakers have acquired the 39th pick in the draft from the Philadelphia 76ers for Chicago’s 2019 second round pick and cash.

The Lakers have acquired the 39th pick in Thursday’s Draft from the 76ers, league source tells ESPN. Lakers will send Philly its 2019 second round pick via Bulls and cash. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2018

This move is a bit surprising, as a lot of us were expecting the Lakers to trade the picks that they have to offload Deng’s contract or move for a different pick. However, this could just be some preemptive shuffling as a part of a larger trade. An early second round pick like 39 could easily entice some teams to move back and allow the Lakers to get a guy that they like earlier in the draft. There are also many options for the Lakers to select at 39. With guys like Landry Shamet and Shake Milton falling on a lot of big boards, you can be sure that there will be some intriguing players available early in the second round.

Personally, I think that this is a part of a later move. The Lakers are expected to be big players in free agency, and may even be able to acquire Kawhi Leonard via trade. 39 could provide a good role player off the bench, but it’s far more likely that the pick will be used as trade fodder for something bigger.

For the Sixers, they currently have more picks than available roster spots, so moving the pick back a year makes sense. I don’t expect this to be the only moves that the Sixers make in the draft process, and we could even see our pick that the Sixers own be moved in a similar deal that the Lakers are trying to pull off.

All things considered, this is a great move for the Lakers, regardless of what their intentions are with the pick. We can only wait and see what will happen with it.

Update

The trade will officially take place on July 6th, as Philadelphia has already received the limit for cash in a season.

This would have to be a post 7/6 trade since Philadelphia has already received the allotted $5.1M in cash this season. https://t.co/SEx27xqjHF — Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 21, 2018