2018 NBA Draft: Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk impresses at Lakers workout

The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into the offseason with really only two consistent shooters on the roster: Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart. That’s an area they could add to in the upcoming NBA Draft, so it should come as no surprise to hear they were very impressed with Kansas’ Sviatoslav “Svi” Mykhailiuk.

Our own Pete Zayas was at the Lakers facility Tuesday morning, and went so far as to say Mykhailiuk had a “tremendous” workout.

Standing at 6’8” with a 6’5” wingspan, Mykhailiuk isn’t going to wow anyone with his measurables, but the kid can shoot, which forces defenders to close out harder than they would normally prefer to, and he does do a fair job at attacking said closeouts.

He averaged a shade under 15 points per game and did so shooting a whopping 44% from three on more than six attempts per game. In fact, Mykhailiuk went on to set the single-season three-pointers made record at Kansas. One thing that might worry some is his low free-throw rate. With a shooter as good as he is, you’d like to see him at the line as often as possible.

Defensively, questions are always going to remain with a player who lacks athleticism and length to the extent Mykhailiuk does. You’d like to be able to see him slide down occasionally and try to hang with power forwards so as to really benefit from his shooting, but that doesn’t seem all that likely given his wingspan. In all likelihood, Mykhailiuk sticks mostly on the wing (at least early on) and goes from there.

It should also be pointed out, though, that he fared pretty well against Duke’s big frontline when the two teams played in the elite eight, as as 247Sports’ Scott Chasen (who covered Mykhailiuk’s entire time at Kansas) pointed out to me when I reached out for some background info.

Mykhailiuk is also the rare four-year senior who comes out of college relatively young. He’s still only 20 years old (though he does turn 21 within a week), so you might get the best of both worlds in terms of experience and ceiling.

Maybe the Lakers saw something legitimate, or maybe Mykhailiuk had that great a day. He does fill a need on this roster, though, so maybe he’s one to keep an eye on come draft day.