Lakers draft 2015: Emmanuel Mudiay dines with Lakers before workout

Earlier Friday morning, Shams Charania of Real GM reported that point guard Emmanuel Mudiay would work out for the Lakers on Saturday morning in Los Angeles. Before Mudiay runs hrough drills that will help determine whether or not the team decides he is worthy of the second overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, Mitch Kupchak and the Lakers basketball operations department decided to take Mudiay out for dinner on Friday night.

Mudiay is projected lower than the second overall pick in most mock drafts, and it has been widely reported the Lakers either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor when the draft rolls around on June 25th, but the front office has been doing its due diligence on up to eight players it will consider for the selection.

The Lakers taking Mudiay out to dinner before a workout is reminiscent of another memorable dinner with a potential franchise point guard before the draft, as told here in an excerpt of Jeff Pearlman's book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s":

Moments later, the plates arrived. The first thing [Magic] Johnson noticed was the awful smell. He looked down and saw something bland and crusty.

Cooke observed Johnson's bewildered expression.
"They're sand dabs!" he said. "Sand dabs!"
Johnson glanced at his father, leaned close and whispered, "I don't know what a sand dab is."
Cooke was nonplussed. "Young man, do you know how much a sand dab costs?"
Johnson shook his head.
"Well, they're very expensive," Cooke said. "It's a very fine fish. Now eat."
 Johnson stabbed the listless sand dab with his fork. Nudged it around a bit. Pushed it left. Pushed it right. "I can't eat this," he said.
Cooke, a man who knew a high-quality sand dab when he saw it, was outraged. "What are you talking about?" he said. "Do you know how much that fish costs?"

"If it's OK with you, Mr. Cooke, I think I'd rather have a hamburger and some French fries," Johnson said softly. "Would that be OK?"

This was not the way to make a good impression. Cooke was a formal man with formal tastes. If he wanted sand dabs, dammit, everyone was eating sand dabs. In this particular case, however, Hearn -- one of the few men who had the owner's ear -- intervened. "The guy's only nineteen," he said. "The only thing he knows is hamburger and pizza." A resigned Cooke sighed, then yelled toward the kitchen, "Can we have a hamburger?Nothing.
"A hamburger!" he screamed. "Get the man one!"

Within minutes, Earvin Johnson was gripping a burger. The accompanying smile was that of an eight-year-old securing a Happy Meal. "You know," West later said to Johnson, "nobody has ever done what you just did to Jack Kent Cooke."

No reports yet on whether Mudiay passed the Lakers patented "Hamburger or Sand Dab" test, but stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for updates on this important story as it develops.