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Lakers survive the drama of draft lottery and will have the second pick in the NBA draft

Teams have dreams of moving up in the NBA draft lottery.

Not the Lakers. They were elated to stay where they were.

After finishing with the NBA’s second-worst record, the Lakers ended up with the second overall pick in next month’s draft, courtesy of four ping-pong balls drawn out of a plastic hopper with a 2-3-7-14 combination, one of 199 assigned to the Lakers ahead of time.

It came after Philadelphia already won the top pick with a 1-10-5-9 combo and led to the most relieved man in the NBA world Tuesday: Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak.