{"id":123143,"date":"2025-11-27T07:46:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T07:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=123143"},"modified":"2025-11-27T07:46:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T07:46:59","slug":"report-lakers-target-a-toppin-but-the-nba-world-is-surprised-no-relation-to-obi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=123143","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Lakers Target a Toppin, But the NBA World Is Surprised\u2014No Relation to Obi!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With the\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0being one of the better teams in the entire NBA to start the season, it’ll be interesting to see what Rob Pelinka wants to do at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, the Lakers also have a few opportunities to add some players in the draft, currently holding the 28th overall pick in Jonathan Wasserman’s Bleacher Report mock draft.<\/p>\n

There are a few ways the Lakers could go, potentially even moving on from that pick on draft night, but Wasserman had them selecting JT Toppin, a power forward out of Texas Tech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were scouts with a first-round grade on JT Toppin last May. He’s now started his junior year with two 30-point games over his first three, overwhelming defenses with his one-two punch of strength and paint touch.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it’s difficult to envision pathways to upside for a 6’9″ post player, there will be teams that see value and a high floor based on his consistent production, interior scoring instincts, unteachable short-range touch and offensive rebounding,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>he wrote.<\/p>\n

Some think Toppin and Obi Toppin are related, but they aren’t. They just happened to both play power forward in college and were very good.<\/p>\n

Toppin is obviously a bit older at 20 years old, but he’s not old enough that it should be a big deal for the Lakers and other teams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0being one of the better teams in the entire NBA to start the season, it’ll be interesting to see what Rob Pelinka wants to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\nREPORT: Lakers Target a Toppin, But the NBA World Is Surprised\u2014No Relation to Obi! - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=123143\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REPORT: Lakers Target a Toppin, But the NBA World Is Surprised\u2014No Relation to Obi! 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