After trading Deandre Ayton to the Washington Wizards for Jaden Hardy and two second round picks, the Los Angeles Lakers are in search of a backup center. That’s in addition to finding a starting-caliber wing, which is why they made the trade in order to free up some money and add draft capital.
There are not many enticing options left in free agency in terms of backup bigs, especially with former Laker Andre Drummond signing with the New York Knicks. Other names on the Lakers’ radar include Kevon Looney and Jonas Valanciunas, via NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer:
Looney remains on the Lakers’ radar, sources say, as does Nuggets center Jonas Valančiūnas. The latter, remember, was a Lakers free agent target two summers ago before Valančiūnas opted to sign a multiyear deal with Washington instead.
Both Looney and Valanciunas are past their prime physically and may not be the bests fits with Luka Doncic, who has thrived with athletic lob threats.
Valanciunas is a big-bodied, slow-footed center with a limited ability to space the floor. But he does possess the ability to operate with his back to the basket. In comparison to Looney, he is more limited offensively, with his main skill set being rebounding. It definitely would be nice to have a backup center creating second-chance opportunities.
In 65 games with the Denver Nuggets last season, Valanciunas averaged 8.7 points and 5.1 rebounds on 58.2% from the field and 30.8% from 3-point range. This contrasts with Looney’s 2.8 points and 5.6 rebounds on 41.7% from the field with the New Orleans Pelicans.
The former three-time champion with the Golden State Warriors averaged 14.6 minutes a game on a bad Pelicans team. Meanwhile, Valanciunas averaged 13.4 minutes per contest, backing up three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, so neither would be able to handle heavy minutes if Walker Kessler were to miss time.
The Lakers are hoping to avoid placing too much dependence on Kessler to anchor the middle and perhaps Sandro Mamukelashvili also plays a bit more five than anticipated, but the team clearly is looking to add another capable center.
Lakers have previous interest in Jonas Valanciunas
The Lakers’ interest in Valanciunas goes back to 2024 before he signed with the Washington Wizards. L.A. would keep tabs on him leading up to the trade deadline, but the Sacramento Kings ultimately pulled the trigger on a deal for the Lithuanian center.
Before Valanciunas was moved to Sacramento, Los Angeles dangled Gabe Vincent and second round compensation, but it was ultimately not enough to get a deal done.
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