Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka will represent the Lakers at the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery

The Los Angeles Lakers will send President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson to represent them on stage during the televised portion at the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery on May 16, as first reported by Mike Trudell of Spectrum Sportsnet and Lakers.com.

The Lakers have a 46.9 percent chance to keep their top-three protected pick, which will be conveyed to the Philadelphia 76ers if it lands at fourth-overall or below.

The stage is where the results will be revealed to the world, but the actual results are determined when the ping-pong balls are draw from a machine in the back.

As far as who will represent the Lakers in the back room, Trudell reports that Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka will watch the drawing and find out the results an hour before the rest of the world (team reps in the back room are not allowed out, or to communicate during the hour-long lead up to the televised announcement of the pick).

Pelinka and Johnson repping the Lakers at the lottery feels fitting, given that they’re the new faces of the front office who will either attempt to select a game-changing player with the selection (should the Lakers keep it) or be forced to turn to their back-up plan if the team loses its selection.

No matter what happens, the night should be a rollercoaster of emotions for Pelinka, Johnson and Lakers fans worldwide. The night that will play a big part in determining the speed of the Lakers’ rebuild can’t get here soon enough.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.