James Worthy to represent Lakers at next month’s draft lottery

James Worthy will represent the Lakers at the May 20 draft lottery, a Lakers spokesman said Wednesday.

The team considered sending team governor Jeanie Buss, who represented the Lakers the last time they were in the lottery (2005), and also General Manager Mitch Kupchak, but ultimately settled on Worthy, who won three championships with the Lakers in the 1980s.

Worthy is an analyst for Time Warner Cable SportsNet, the Lakers’ broadcast partner. He was the Lakers’ last top overall pick, selected in the 1982 draft.

“James said he was honored to represent the Lakers,” team spokesman John Black said.

The Lakers hold the sixth pick in the June 26 draft but have a 6.3% chance of winning the top spot at the lottery in New York. They hold a 7.1% chance of moving up to the second spot and an 8.1% chance of ending up with the third pick.

They cannot move up to fourth or fifth because only the top three picks are “unlocked” on lottery day. The Lakers’ most likely probability is staying at No. 6 (43.9%), though they can slip as far down as ninth if three teams below them end up with the top three picks, a highly unlikely scenario.

The Lakers have a 30.5% chance of slipping to seventh and remote possibilities of falling to eighth (4%) or ninth (0.1%).

Top draft prospects include Kansas center Joel Embiid, Duke forward Jabari Parker, Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins, Kentucky forward Julius Randle, Australian guard Dante Exum and Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart.

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