Podcast: Previewing Svi Mykhailiuk, Moe Wagner and Isaac Bonga before their rookie seasons

Thanks to the incredible success from rookie classes before them, the most recent crop of players drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers scouting department has some pretty big shoes to fill. Are Svi Mykhailiuk, Isaac Bonga and Moe Wagner ready for those expectations? We’ll see, but they’ve definitely shown promise thus far.

Really quickly, some thoughts on expectations:

It’d be one thing if Svi Mykhailiuk and Moe Wagner were entering this year with expectations somewhat tempered because of where they were drafted, but that hasn’t stopped guys like Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart from impressing with the Lakers over the last few years, so however unfair it almost definitely is, this is the new normal. ]

Fortunately, because of how deep the Lakers are, legitimate responsibilities in terms of production will remain fairly realistic.

To talk about this and a ton else about Mykhailiuk, Wagner and Bonga, I welcome Pete back with the latest edition of Locked on Lakers’ player preview series.

Before we get into details, though, here’s a brief refresher on the format of the series:

In segment one, we discuss the season(s) the player had to get them to where they are now. That kind of context is critical in properly setting expectations moving forward.

Segment two covers what we’d like to see from the player individually.

Then, in the the third segment, we figure out how those individual expectations fit into the team construct.

Both Mykhailiuk and Wagner have an uphill battle towards consistent minutes this year, but there’s at least a realistic chance at either or both of them impacting this Lakers season. In Bonga’s case, he’s a couple years away from being a couple years away, and as such will almost definitely spend the majority of this (and even next) season with the South Bay Lakers.

As always, this is just a tidbit of the full context given in the show. Listen to the full discussion below and please check out old episodes or guarantee you won’t miss any ever again by subscribing on iTunes.