The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to explore all avenues of improving their roster this offseason, be it via free agency, the draft or through trade. And the biggest name expected to be available via trade this summer is Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
After what has felt like many seasons of potentially being traded away, it is widely believed that the Bucks and Anteokounmpo will finally part ways this summer. However, the Lakers are very unlikely to be the team who lands him, via Dan Woike of The Athletic:
This was reporting from a month ago. The Lakers don’t seem like a Giannis team as of today. https://t.co/Zxypb8tDDA
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) June 12, 2026
While the Lakers are undoubtedly interested in acquiring someone of Antetokounmpo’s caliber, they simply don’t have enough to offer in a deal to compete with the best other squads could. The Lakers do have three first-round draft picks they could trade, but they lack the young talent that could entice the Bucks.
With many teams lining up their best offer to acquire Antetokounmpo, the Lakers have a ton of competition on that market and the best they can do is ultimately underwhelming, especially if they were to not include Austin Reaves in a potential deal, as Luka Doncic would prefer them not to.
Even without getting involved in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, the Lakers have plenty to focus on with their own players. Chief among them is Reaves himself, who is an unrestricted free agent seeking a max contract, not to mention LeBron James who is also a free agent assuming he returns for a 24th season.
This is set to be a massively important offseason for the Lakers’ front office and the team at least trying to acquire Antetokounmpo makes a ton of sense. But with every team set to offer up their best deal for the Bucks superstar, the Lakers just don’t measure up making it highly unlikely he winds up in purple and gold.
Many teams interested in signing Lakers’ Austin Reaves this offseason
Reaves is one of the top available free agents this summer and is expected to draw a ton of interest around the league. The Brooklyn Nets are expected to offer him a max deal while teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons are capable of clearing out enough salary cap space to give him a competitive offer as well, meaning the price for the Lakers to retain Reaves is only going up.
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