Lakers to work out De’Anthony Melton and five other 2018 NBA Draft prospects Friday

It had already leaked that the Los Angeles Lakers would be working out former USC guard and 2018 NBA Draft prospect De’Anthony Melton on Friday, and the team announced who would be joining him in a release on Thursday.

Justin Tillman of VCU, Yante Maten of Georgia, Peyton Aldridge of Davidson, Kyle Washington of Cincinnati and Gabe DeVoe of Clemson will round out the latest six-man group to come to the UCLA Health Training Center. The workout will be DeVoe’s second with the team.

Maten (No. 88) is the only other player in this cluster to be ranked in Jonathan Givony of ESPN’s top 100 prospects in the draft, and while he could be an option for one of the Lakers’ summer league teams or undrafted free agency, almost all of the intrigue in this group is solely focused on Melton.

Melton is the 24th-ranked prospect in the draft, according to Givony, and as such is squarely in the range of the Lakers’ first round pick. Melton could provide solid backcourt depth for the team, and either play in Lonzo Ball’s stead or alongside him with Ball shifting up to the two.

Our own Daniel Flores did a full profile on what Melton could bring to the Lakers that is worth a read if you want to know what he can bring to the table:

One player that resembles the role Melton hopes to fill in the NBA is Marcus Smart.

Melton is a pitbull on defense, and will accept the task of guarding the other team’s best player for long stretches and will be asked to hit open three-pointers.

Another player that Melton could emulate is Shaun Livingston.

Like Livingston, Melton is a very unselfish player who can be the secondary playmaker or change help run the second unit’s offense.

Still, teams will have to decide if they can live with a guy that is an average athlete, has limited potential on the offensive end and has a jumper that needs fixing.

Stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for more coverage of this workout and more as the draft draws closer, including what the Lakers are looking for from their next first round pick.

All stats per sports-reference.com. A full list of every prospect we know the Lakers have worked out is available here. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen,