The Los Angeles Lakers are not yet done with their offseason dealing, despite already massively reshaping the roster and landing at 14 players with their most recent reported addition of Kevon Looney. The name that has been attached to the Lakers the most is Jonathan Kuminga, the former Golden State Warriors lottery pick with a fascinating career arc thus far.
As of Wednesday morning, the Lakers only have the veteran minimum to offer Kuminga, and if he was going to take that, he would have already done so. That has led to speculation that the Lakers are trying to clear cap space in order to sign him, by way of trading some players on the current roster. The Lakers, in the meantime, are keeping their recruitment of Kuminga reportedly very strong, according to Anthony Slater of ESPN:
That didn’t stop the Lakers’ pursuit of Kuminga, as multiple members of the organization, including players, reached out and expressed their desire for him to join them. Pelinka has remained in touch with Kuminga’s agent, Aaron Turner, subtly improving their offer in recent days, league sources told ESPN, while reiterating to Kuminga his importance to what the Lakers are building around Doncic, a likely starting role and what the opportunity could do for his career.
It’s unclear exactly how much money the Lakers would have to free up to land Kuminga, but it does seem to be the path the Lakers are going down. They are currently projected to be out of cap space once the signing of Walker Kessler becomes official. This means they would have to clear cap space by either sending a player or two without getting anything back, or they would have to work out a sign-and-trade agreement with the Atlanta Hawks.
The Lakers getting Kuminga would answer the question of who is going to start at power forward, as he would almost certainly join Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Kessler and Quentin Grimes in the starting lineup.
Lakers looking at two-year deal for Jonathan Kuminga
Rumors state that the Lakers are looking to add Kuminga on a two-year, $20 million deal. Doing this would require sending out either Jarred Vanderbilt alone, or a combination of Dalton Knecht, Bronny James, Jake LaRavia, and possibly Jaden Hardy depending on legality.
It remains unclear if a two-year, $20 million deal would be enough to entice Kuminga to come to L.A. and get the Hawks or a third team to play along.
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