It has been a disappointing offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers as they have been turned down by a number of their top targets.
First, they unsuccessfully pursued UConn’s Dan Hurley to be their next head coach. Then, they made Klay Thompson their top free agent target but he instead chose to sign with the Dallas Mavericks.
And most recently, it was reported that Cedi Osman turned down a training camp invite from L.A. in order to play overseas. While on the surface that may not be a good look, it made sense from Osman’s perspective considering the Lakers don’t have any open roster spots and he had no chance of making the team.
As it turns out though, NBA insider Marc Stein is reporting that an offer was never even made to Osman:
It has been reported in Europe that Turkish swingman Cedi Osman turned down a training camp invite from the Lakers before signing with Panathinaikos in Greece, but sources close to the situation told The Stein Line that no such offer was extended by L.A. despite LeBron James’ well-known fondness for Osman dating to their days as Cavaliers teammates.
The Lakers have 15 guaranteed contracts and are less than $50,000 away from crossing into second apron luxury tax territory, so there would be no reasonable pathway to add Osman to the team even had he come to camp and played well. Sources say that the 29-year-old, who played in San Antonio last season, signed a one-year deal with Panathinaikos in hopes that he can play his way back to the NBA next season.
Osman is a former teammate and friend of LeBron James, but at the end of the day he needs somewhere to play for the 2024-25 and that likely wasn’t going to be with the Lakers even if he did come over and have an impressive training camp.
Perhaps he will be on L.A.’s radar next summer if he has a good season overseas, but for now the organization is focused on how they can maximize the talent they have in-house to find a way to compete in a loaded Western Conference.
Lakers center Christian Wood undergoes knee surgery
Unfortunately, it looks like the Lakers are already shorthanded before training camp even starts as the organization recently announced that center Christian Wood underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and will be re-evaluated in eight weeks.
It’s a disappointing start to the season for Wood, who said he was feeling like his old self again before suffering the injury.
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