Now that the Los Angeles Lakers know LeBron James won’t be returning to the team, they have a lot of money to spend in free agency when it gets underway on Tuesday afternoon.
One potential target who could makes sense for the Lakers is Quentin Grimes as he is a former teammate and close from of Luka Doncic’s on the Dallas Mavericks in 2024-25. And according to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Lakers are expected to be among the teams with interest in the guard:
Last night we reported the Lakers' rising interest in Toronto free agent Sandro Mamukelashvili.
Now league sources tell @JakeLFischer and me that Philadelphia's Quentin Grimes is emerging as another top Lakers target.
MORE Intel here: https://t.co/wrfOg8JCsu
📸: @ClutchPoints pic.twitter.com/lOjCFvMWrr
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 30, 2026
Grimes is still just 26 years of age and would be a quality off-ball option alongside Doncic and Austin Reaves in the backcourt. He appeared in 75 games (19 starts) for the Philadelphia 76ers last season and averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 45% from the field and 33.4% from 3-point range.
With it seemingly likely that James, Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard all depart in free agency, the Lakers will need to completely reshape their roster around Doncic and Reaves.
They project to have more than $50 million in cap space and Grimes could land somewhere around the $15 million a year range, so he would only put a slight dent into the Lakers’ spending power.
With free agency set to get underway on Tuesday at 3 p.m. PT, the Lakers’ plan should quickly come into focus as they have a lot of spots to fill in what should be a competitive market. Outside of a potential restricted free agent offer sheet, signings could begin happening quickly after free agency opens, especially if L.A. is targeting certain players.
Lakers interested in Cameron Johnson, Dean Wade, Ziaire Williams
Some other players the Lakers have been linked to ahead of the start of free agency are Cameron Johnson, Ziaire Williams, Dean Wade and Jock Landale.
As one of the only teams with significant cap space, the Lakers are naturally going to be linked to a lot of free agent and trade pieces with Rob Pelinka having the ability to go in a variety of different directions with the roster in the coming days.
Landale has already agreed to re-sign with the Atlanta Hawks, so the Lakers will need to look elsewhere to upgrade their center rotation.
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