The Jonathan Kuminga market is narrowing, and the Los Angeles Lakers suddenly look like the cleanest fit.
That shift came into focus Monday morning when ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Lakers forward Rui Hachimura "agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers," a development that leaves Los Angeles with a clear opening at power forward. After a flurry of roster moves - trading for Walker Kessler, signing Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton - the Lakers still have a hole they haven’t filled. They do not have a starting-caliber power forward.
Hachimura was supposed to handle that spot, and the Lakers clearly wanted him back. With that path now closed, their interest in Kuminga becomes a lot easier to see. He fits what they’re building, but landing him won’t be simple.
Los Angeles is running short on cap space, which means a straight signing is not the likely route. If the Lakers want Kuminga, they would probably need to work out a sign-and-trade, and that would mean sending out pieces from the back end of their rotation. Any combination of Jake LaRavia, Jarred Vanderbilt and Dalton Knecht would have to head to Atlanta for a deal to get done, unless the Lakers cut or salary-dumped one of them to make room.
For Atlanta, that’s the reality of the decision they made when they declined Kuminga’s team option for the 2026-27 season. The Hawks knew he could simply leave and sign somewhere else. They would prefer to either bring him back or turn him into assets through a sign-and-trade, but the longer this drags on, the more the list of realistic destinations shrinks.
That’s where the leverage issue comes in. President of Basketball Operations Onsi Saleh has had the upper hand in most of his early moves with Atlanta, but this situation is different.
The Hawks understand that Kuminga could walk for nothing, and while his talent makes him worth the gamble, Atlanta may not be the team to take it. The Lakers, at this point, make all the sense in the world as a partner.
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Atlantas name keeps surfacing because it sits in the kind of position that can shape the outcome without necessarily driving it. The Hawks have drawn varying levels of interest in Kuminga, but there are no active talks with his camp right now, even as other suitors like Cleveland and Sacramento remain in the picture. If the Lakers decide they need a trade route to get serious, Atlanta could become relevant quickly, though only if the framework makes sense for the Hawks as well. [Read more 🡒]
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