Los Angeles Lakers kept quiet during the NBA Draft, despite trade rumors.

The Lakers did not have the draft day many Lakers fans may have expected last Thursday.

The Lakers did not officially become a participant until the 2nd half of the NBA draft where they made some additions to fill the roster and not finding a way to move up the draft board into the earlier round.

They decided to draft players with three of their four picks and send the remaining pick to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for a future second round draft pick.

The Lakers used their first pick on guard Darius Morris from Michigan University, who is originally from Los Angeles, with the 41st pick.

They chose guard Andrew Goudelock from Charleston with the 46th pick.

The Lakers then used their last pick of the night on forward Ater Majok from Australia with the 58th pick.

This came as a shock to L.A. fans since the Lakers had been in the middle of trade rumors over the last few weeks as the NBA draft was approaching.

Among the numerous trade offers that were said, key Lakers players such as Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum all found their names in the middle of them.

Many players that were rumored to be traded to Los Angeles were Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic, Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves or Andre Iguodala from the Philadelphia 76ers, among others.

As the draft came and went, it did prove to be nothing but rumors as none of the key players were moved out of Los Angeles.

Ron Artest also made headlines on the day of the NBA draft, when there were talks of him suddenly wanting to change his name to Metta World Peace.

Artest told ESPN that he credited the idea for a name changed to NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, who had changed his name from Chad Johnson.

Artest had requested for a name change, and will need required approval when he meets with the Los Angeles Superior County Court on August 26th.

Lakers also made news when they announced that they were going to hire John Kuester as an assistant coach on April 29th.

Kuester recently spent the last 2 seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons before being fired on June 5th

Kuester was also an assistant under Lakers Head Coach Mike Brown when both were in Cleveland.

(SportsMinded’s (James Williams) article published in the Downey Patriot)