The Lakers have officially moved on from Jared Dudley, at least on paper.
On Wednesday, HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported on X/Twitter that Los Angeles “have officially renounced the free agent rights to LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Dion Waiters, Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Maxi Kleber, Nick Smith Jr, Jared Dudley, Avery Bradley, Jaxson Hayes, Markieff Morris, and Wayne Ellington.”
Dudley, who won a championship with the Lakers in 2020, is not an active player and hasn’t been for years. He wrapped up a 14-year NBA career after the 2020-21 season and later moved into coaching.
The Boston College product spent 3.5 years on the Mavericks’ staff, where he coached Luka Doncic, before taking an assistant coaching job with the Denver Nuggets. He just finished his first season there.
Dudley’s playing career began when the Charlotte Hornets, then known as the Bobcats, selected him in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft with the No. 22 pick. The San Diego native carved out a long run as a role player because of his energy and his three-point shooting.
By the time he arrived in Los Angeles in 2019, though, he was no longer logging major minutes. In two seasons with the Lakers, Dudley averaged 1.0 points and 1.5 rebounds while shooting 31.1% from the field and 38.1% from the field on low volume in 7.4 minutes per game.
Now, five years after his final game with the franchise and in the NBA, the Lakers have officially cut ties with him.
In Other News...
Lakers Fans Are Already Wondering Whats Going On With Jon Elmore
Jon Elmores name on the Lakers Summer League roster was enough to get attention in Las Vegas, especially for a guard with a long, winding pro career and a rsum that still stands out from his college days at Marshall. Elmore has been through VMI, Marshall, overseas stops and several G League runs, and he arrived with a fresh 2025 G League championship from Stockton plus the kind of background that usually makes a player worth watching closely.
Instead, he was nowhere to be found in the first game, which naturally left Lakers fans wondering what kind of role, if any, he is actually being given in Vegas. Elmore is already 30, and while his path has included real production and plenty of experience, his playing time and his chances of turning this Summer League look into something more with the Lakers remain very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Nuggets Fans May Not Like What This New Wing Rumor Means
Cameron Johnsons move from Brooklyn to Denver already gave the Nuggets a proven wing who can space the floor and fit cleanly around star talent, and his value only looks clearer when you consider how efficiently he has shot it from deep. For a Lakers team always watching the market for help on the perimeter, that kind of player naturally lands on the radar.
The wrinkle is that Denvers salary situation could push them into tough decisions even on players they like, which is why Johnson has surfaced in trade chatter at all. Los Angeles would have interest if he became available, but the Lakers do not exactly have a deep pile of assets to make a deal easy, so this is one of those rumors that makes sense in theory and gets complicated fast in practice. [Read more 🡒]