The Lakers are still hunting for their answer at starting power forward, and Jonathan Kuminga has been the name at the center of that chase from the start. Free agency has dragged on, but the field around the NBA champion has shrunk to the point where a move to Los Angeles is starting to feel close.
On Tuesday, New York Post reporter Valentina Martinez said Kuminga had only three teams left in the mix: the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers. Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer then added that the situation appears to be narrowing even further.
“Comes down to Minnesota or Los Angeles,” Fischer said. “Kuminga, I think, has seemed to prefer going to the Lakers.
They have the most opportunity to negotiate there. That's going to come to some type of conclusion here soon.
I thought it could have happened last week, but I still have been told nothing to suggest that Kuminga's situation is not coming down to the Lakers or the Timberwolves."
That leaves the next question: who helps make the deal work? NBA writer Jake Weinbach floated a three-team sign-and-trade that would send Dalton Knecht to the Chicago Bulls, Jaden Hardy to the Atlanta Hawks, and Kuminga to the Lakers.
“A trade idea between the Lakers, Hawks, and Bulls: Lakers: Jonathan Kuminga (via S&T). Hawks: Jaden Hardy, 2031 second-round pick (via WAS from LAL), Cash (via LAL). Bulls: Dalton Knecht, 2032 second-round pick (via WAS from LAL),” Weinbach wrote.
For Los Angeles, the appeal is obvious. The Lakers are currently one player over the roster limit, and a third team could be the piece that clears the path and keeps the whole structure intact. The move would also address the club’s biggest remaining need.
Knecht and Hardy were not expected to play major roles in Los Angeles, so a change of scenery could give both young guards a better chance to carve out a real place somewhere else.
Kuminga was on a $46 million contract last season, and the Lakers are apparently ready to bet on his upside. They envision him fitting alongside Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic, with his athleticism and scoring giving the offense another dangerous layer.
The belief inside Los Angeles is simple: Kuminga is close to breaking through, and they want that breakthrough to happen in purple and gold.
In Other News...
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Still, there are reasons to think the Bulls might be getting a little too little credit. Caleb Wilsons strong summer league showing gave the front office something to point at, and the mix of Nic Claxton, Norman Powell and new coach Tiago Splitter gives Chicago a different kind of look than it had before. Whether that is enough to climb out of the basement is another question, but it is the kind of ranking a young team can use as fuel when the season starts to matter. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Bulls, the miss fits a familiar kind of calculation: stay disciplined, keep the books clean, and avoid committing in a way that could limit bigger moves later. What remains unclear is whether Chicago ever got to the point of matching the Pelicans' offer or whether Mathurin simply preferred New Orleans, leaving the Bulls to watch a player they had interest in settle elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Built The Perfect Roster For A Player They Let Go
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What makes the fit sting a little more is how little the Bulls ended up getting back when they sent White to Charlotte at the deadline. The move was part of the teardown, but the return never matched the kind of player White could become for a team in search of exactly what he does best. And once the deal ran into an added complication involving his health, the sense that Chicago gave up on the wrong guard only got harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]