The Los Angeles Lakers zeroed in on Adou Thiero in the second round of the NBA Draft, moving up from 55th to 36th just to select him.
Thiero’s college coach, Arkansas’ John Calipari, claims the Lakers got the steal of the draft.
“I’m so proud of how far Adou has come from a 5’11 9th grader to becoming an NBA player. Incredible journey. Forget what round he is drafted in, he is a player they will look at and go, ‘How did he get drafted there? That was a steal.’
“We have had guys go in the second round or even undrafted that go on to have a great NBA career! He has what it takes mentally and physically to succeed in the NBA. Go do it, Adou!” Calipari wrote on X after the Lakers drafted his star player.
Calipari has produced several NBA stars from Derrick Rose in Memphis to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker and Jamal Murray at Kentucky.
Thiero could be his first at Arkansas.
The Razorbacks star has the tools to become an elite 3-and-D star in the NBA. He was measured at 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot wingspan. He averaged 15.1 points on 54.5% shooting from the field and 5.8 rebounds for the Razorbacks last season. But his 3-point shot needs work after hitting only 28.4% in three seasons in college.
Rob Pelinka on Moving Up to Steal Adou Thiero
Lakers president Rob Pelinka raved about Thiero in an interview with Spectrum SportsNet after the 2025 NBA Draft.
“We were super aggressive to begin the day knowing that we didn’t have a first-round pick,” Pelinka said. “Adou was projected by our scouts as a first-round talent and so we were able to turn 55, which is a late-second-round pick, into a high second-round pick to pick a player that we had projected in the first round. So it’s almost like having the first-round pick that we traded out.”
The Lakers moved up to No. 45 by trading the No. 55 pick and cash considerations to the Chicago Bulls and then re-traded the No. 45 pick and more cash to Minnesota to get to No. 36.
New Money Helps Lakers Improve Around Margins
Pelinka credited Jeanie Buss, who still leads the Lakers’ day-to-day basketball operations even after the Buss family sold their majority shares to Mark Walter, the deep-pocketed owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The sale at a $10 billion valuation gave the Lakers more resources to make such a move.
“Tons of credit, thankful for the support of Jeanie to allow us to be aggressive and use resources to win at the margins, move up in the draft and get a player that we really think is gonna dimensionalize our roster,” Pelinka said. “We just felt like one of the things we needed to address was to get younger and more athletic on the wings. Being able to get a player like Adou that can catch lobs from the corner when Luka [Doncic] is making paint decisions, I think, is gonna be really special.
“And then he’s just got big shoulders, big chest, a guy that’s gonna play defense and add some physicality and athleticism to our roster. So super excited about that.”
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