The Lakers’ pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga appears to have run into a dead end, and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says Los Angeles may have already blown past the best chance to make it happen.
Windhorst said the Lakers could have worked out a sign-and-trade for Kuminga two weeks ago, at the same time the team traded Deandre Ayton to the Wizards. According to Windhorst, there was a window in which the Hawks could have been brought into the deal, and the money the Lakers could have paid Kuminga would have come in below the mid level.
“The Lakers could have done a sign-and-trade for Kuminga two weeks ago, when the Lakers traded Deandre Ayton to the Wizards, there was a window where the Hawks could have gotten in on the trade… what they (Lakers) could have payed him, would have been less than the mid level,” Windhorst said.
That lines up with the broader picture around Kuminga and Los Angeles, where the interest has been real but the deal has never quite come together. NBA reporter Evan Sidery said there was “mutual free agent interest between Jonathan Kuminga and the Lakers,” adding that the team was still working behind the scenes to land him as a wing addition.
But the longer this drags on, the less likely it looks that the Lakers and Kuminga will end up together. Lakers insider Anthony F.
Irwin posted that “Returning to the Hawks doesn’t feel like an option for Kuminga. If LeBron goes to Cleveland, I have no idea what options other than the Lakers he has.
If he wants to get paid a reasonable amount, he’s gotta be hoping Atlanta changes the stance they currently have on a S&T.”
For now, though, the Lakers seem to be moving forward without him. Kuminga was reportedly their top priority two weeks ago, but since then Los Angeles has signed Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle to inexpensive deals.
The bigger takeaway is simple: the Lakers wanted Kuminga, but they may not have valued him enough to act when the path was there. Or, as Windhorst suggested, they may have just missed the window altogether.
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The Lakers have spent the offseason hunting for the kind of wing who can survive on one end and still matter on the other, a search that has only grown more urgent as they try to build around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Jonathan Kuminga has been floated as a top free-agent target, but the list of options has also included a rugged defensive presence the Lakers were monitoring before the market moved on.
Atlanta, meanwhile, is the team that ended up landing that piece in a three-team deal, giving the Hawks another hard-nosed wing as they continue to reshape the roster. The move comes with plenty of moving parts behind it, including multiple second-round picks and other names in the transaction, and it leaves open the bigger question for the Lakers: whether the kind of two-way wing they want is still out there, or whether they just watched one slip away. [Read more 🡒]
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Lu Dort had plenty of suitors before Atlanta made its move, but the Hawks were able to get into the conversation without paying the kind of premium that usually comes with a player of his defensive reputation. For a front office trying to build around flexibility as much as talent, that matters. Onsi Saleh and the Hawks clearly saw an opening and took it, adding Dort and Ryan Nembhard while avoiding the first-round pick price tag that often gets attached to a player with that kind of market.
The appeal for Atlanta goes beyond simply landing another name on the roster. Dort is expected to come off the bench and still change games with his defense, which gives the Hawks a different kind of edge as they head into next season. The bigger takeaway, though, is how the deal came together: Oklahoma Citys salary-driven urgency gave Atlanta room to work, and Saleh used that leverage to get the trade done on terms that fit the Hawks better than many around the league probably expected. [Read more 🡒]