Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Kuminga, Lakers, Knicks, Diabate, Ayton, Temple
The Lakers are focusing on free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga as they search for another wing and one more big man to round out their roster, sources tell Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (subscription required).
However, the slow pace of LeBron James‘ free agent decision may be holding up the market on Kuminga. Stein and Fischer report that the Cavaliers are interested in Kuminga as well, and head coach Kenny Atkinson has experience with him from his time as a Golden State assistant. However, the Cavs don’t want to commit to anything with Kuminga before finding out if they’ll be landing James.
Stein and Fischer hear that the Hawks may still try to re-sign Kuminga after declining their $24.3MM team option on Monday, and they could be open to a sign-and-trade deal as well. The Bucks may also make a play for Kuminga, according to the authors, who add that L.A.’s pursuit of Kuminga could mean Rui Hachimura plays elsewhere. There’s a “growing expectation” Hachimura won’t be back with the Lakers, per Stein and Fischer.
After agreeing to trade Deandre Ayton to Washington on Friday, the Lakers lost a potential replacement later in the day when Andre Drummond committed to New York. Former New Orleans center Kevon Looney remains an option for L.A., according to Stein and Fischer, along with Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas, whose $10MM salary for next season only carries a $2MM guarantee through July 8.
Stein and Fischer share more inside information from around the league:
- The Knicks also had interest in Looney before reaching the deal with Drummond and were monitoring Hornets big man Moussa Diabate as well, sources tell Stein and Fischer. Diabate hasn’t been mentioned in trade rumors, but Charlotte has made changes to its front line recently by dealing for Naz Reid and drafting Hannes Steinbach. Diabate has an expiring $2.5MM contract that would have been a perfect fit for New York’s quest to remain below the second apron.
- The Wizards‘ acquisition of Ayton shouldn’t be viewed of a sign of an upcoming Anthony Davis trade, according to Stein and Fischer. Sources tell them that Washington plans to expand its use of double-big lineups that team Ayton with Davis as well as with Alex Sarr.
- Mavericks president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri talked to Garrett Temple about a front office position before Dusty May convinced him to join the coaching staff, Stein and Fischer hear. They report that Josh Broghamer and Phil Handy are expected to be retained from former head coach Jason Kidd‘s staff.
Lakers Trade Deandre Ayton To Wizards
July 7: The Lakers and Wizards have issued press releases officially confirming that their trade is done.
July 3: The Lakers are trading center Deandre Ayton to the Wizards, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
According to Charania, Washington will send guard Jaden Hardy, a 2031 second-round pick, and a 2032 second-round pick to Los Angeles in exchange for Ayton.
The first overall pick in the 2018 draft, Ayton signed with the Lakers last summer after being bought out by Portland and spent the 2025/26 season atop the team’s depth chart at the five, starting 72 regular season games and all 10 of Los Angeles’ playoff contests.
However, he had an up-and-down year, setting new career lows in points (12.5), rebounds (8.0), and minutes (27.2) per game in his eighth NBA season. An offensive-minded player earlier in his career, Ayton struggled to adjust to the role the Lakers wanted him to play, which involved focusing on setting screens, defending, and rebounding.
The big man eventually bought into that role and exercised his $8.1MM player option for 2026/27, but the Lakers made it a priority this summer to find a new starting center and struck a deal with Utah to acquire Walker Kessler via sign-and-trade on a four-year, $130MM contract.
While they could’ve retained Ayton as Kessler’s backup, the Lakers plan to address that spot on the free agent market, according to Charania (Twitter link), who identifies Andre Drummond, Kevon Looney, and Jonas Valanciunas as possibilities. Valanciunas is still under contract with Denver but appears highly likely to be waived, since only $2MM of his $10MM salary for 2026/27 is guaranteed.
[UPDATE: Lakers, Kevon Looney Agree To One-Year Deal]
The trade will help the Lakers restock their draft assets to some extent. After the Kessler trade, the team had no draft picks left to trade besides its own 2033 second-rounder. Swapping out Ayton’s $8.1MM cap hit for Hardy’s $6MM figure will also create the extra wiggle room necessary to accommodate the reported terms on the deals for Kessler, Quentin Grimes, and Sandro Mamukelashvili using cap room, tweets Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron.
Hardy, who will turn 24 on Sunday, has just one guaranteed year left on his contract, with a $6MM team option for 2027/28. The 6’3″ guard played a pretty modest role for Dallas and Washington last season, but scored effectively in his limited minutes, averaging 9.2 PPG in 15.8 MPG, and he’s a career 38.6% three-point shooter.
Still, the Lakers have a crowded backcourt, with Grimes and Collin Sexton set to join Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, so we’ll see if Hardy is actually in their plans moving forward. If he not, he could have his salary aggregated with another player’s immediately in a follow-up trade, since Los Angeles will be acquiring him while under the cap, notes Gozlan (Twitter link).
As for the Wizards, Anthony Davis, Alex Sarr, and Tristan Vukcevic had been the only real big men on their projected 15-man roster, so Ayton will added some much-needed depth in the frontcourt. His presence should allow Davis to spend most of his time at power forward.
According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, Ayton will likely slot in as the backup center behind Sarr and also could share the court with the former No. 2 overall pick at times. Robbins adds that Wizards assistant Cody Toppert worked with Ayton when the pair spent a season together in Phoenix.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), the Wizards may decide to absorb Ayton’s $8.1MM salary into a $13.4MM trade exception that expires next Thursday. That would allow them to generate a new $6MM trade exception equivalent to Hardy’s outgoing salary.
Trade Rumors: DeRozan, Finney-Smith, Sasser, Lakers, Bucks
Kings forward DeMar DeRozan hopes to “accelerate his exit” from Sacramento, according to Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. Reporting in June indicated that the team expects to either trade or waive DeRozan, and the 17-year veteran would like for that to happen sooner rather than later, Iko explains.
While a trade that clears DeRozan’s full $25.7MM from their books without any incoming salary coming back would presumably be the preferred route for the cap-strapped Kings, very few teams are in position to accommodate that kind of deal. The more likely outcome is that Sacramento will eventually opt to waive DeRozan and use the stretch provision to spread his partial guarantee of $10MM across three seasons ($3.33MM per year).
If the Kings were to waive and stretch him immediately, it would allow DeRozan to reach the open market while a number of playoff teams still have some spending flexibility, potentially resulting in a more favorable deal. However, it appears Sacramento’s front office wants to exhaust its trade options before resorting to that fall-back option. The deadline to waive a player and stretch his 2026/27 cap hit is August 29.
Here are a few more trade rumors and notes from around the NBA:
- Sources who spoke to Iko described the Rockets‘ trade talks involving forward Dorian Finney-Smith as “fluid,” noting that Houston has explored scenarios in which Finney-Smith would be sent out to create cap flexibility and others in which a player would come back in the deal. However, none of those options has been appealing enough to pull the trigger, and Iko notes that the team’s urgency to make a move has lessened due to how free agency has played out — Houston was able to secure commitments from Marcus Smart and Bogdan Bogdanovic without using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception.
- After reporting earlier in the week that the Mavericks are a “leading suitor” to acquire guard Marcus Sasser from the Pistons, Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link) is talking as if that deal is expected to happen. As Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron points out (via Twitter) there’s a plausible scenario in which the Grizzlies, Pistons, and Mavericks combine their trade agreements involving Isaiah Stewart and Santi Aldama into a single transaction and include Sasser — Detroit’s acquisitions of Isaiah Joe (from the Thunder) and John Collins (via sign-and-trade from the Clippers) would also likely be folded in to make it a five-team trade.
- A number of league sources are wondering if the Lakers are planning to make a trade – or a waive-and-stretch move – involving a player like Jarred Vanderbilt or Deandre Ayton to open up a little more cap room to try to re-sign free agent forward Rui Hachimura, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. At this point, that sounds like speculation rather than anything concrete.
- The Bucks touched base with the Grizzlies about Ja Morant during the 2025/26 season and periodically circled back to discuss him all the way up until this Monday (well after agreeing to move Giannis Antetokounmpo) before ultimately deciding not to pursue a trade, reports Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Memphis agreed to send Morant to Portland instead.
Lakers’ Deandre Ayton Exercises Player Option
June 29: Ayton has decided to opt in, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
June 28: Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) confirm there have been “strong indications” this weekend that Ayton plans to pick up his option.
June 27: Within a round-up of several trade and free agent rumors from various reporters, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports writes that Lakers center Deandre Ayton is expected to exercise his $8.1MM player option for 2026/27 to remain with the team.
The first overall pick of the 2018 draft, Ayton had an up-and-down first season in Los Angeles. While he made a career-high 72 regular season appearances and shot a career-best 67.1% from the floor, his field goal attempts (8.3), points (12.5), rebounds (8.0) and minutes per game (27.2) were all career lows.
Ayton, who turns 28 years old next month, played a key role in helping the Lakers win their first-round playoff series vs. Houston, averaging 11.8 PPG, 10.8 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 31.0 MPG while playing strong defense on Alperen Sengun.
The Bahamian big man was largely a non-factor in the second round when L.A. was swept by Oklahoma City though, averaging more field goal attempts (7.8) than points per game (7.3) largely because he shot just 45.2% from the floor. He also contributed 7.8 RPG in 24.8 MPG.
Ayton has become something of an enigma in his eight years in the league. When he’s locked in and playing his best, he’s a valuable contributor on both ends of the court who has a feathery soft touch near the basket. But he coasts through games at times, making his market value difficult to gauge.
Assuming Helin’s report is accurate, Ayton will have decided he wasn’t going to draw a ton of external interest this summer, instead opting for the security of his guaranteed $8.1MM salary. If that comes to fruition, he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
Picking up his option doesn’t necessarily mean Ayton will remain with the Lakers next season, since they might decide to use his contract in a trade, either this summer or ahead of the next deadline in February.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, 25th Pick, Clippers, Booker
The Lakers are facing a number of questions this offseason, even beyond the futures of stars Austin Reaves and LeBron James.
It’s unlikely Los Angeles’ front office simply runs it back with last season’s roster, writes Dan Woike of The Athletic. There is internal pressure to make changes that will bring the team closer to the contender it views itself as, though there doesn’t seem to be much of a market for a trade package that includes Jarred Vanderbilt, Dalton Knecht, and draft compensation.
The Lakers also appear to be more likely to retain Marcus Smart than Deandre Ayton, as Woike reports that some within the team are focused on trying to get younger and more athletic at the center position. Robert Williams III could be an option there, but Woike reports that the Trail Blazers are expected to attempt to retain the defensive-minded big man.
L.A. also has a decision to make on its assistant general manager job opening. The team has been going through the interview process since the playoffs were ongoing, but it’s unclear how much progress they’ve made. Kurt Rambis is involved in some level of team decision-making, Woike reports. Rohan Ramadas, the team’s newly hired assistant general manager of strategy and data systems, is one of two assistant GMs the team set out looking to hire, and has apparently been impressing in the early days of his tenure.
We have more news and notes coming out of the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers are unlikely to land a starter with the 25th pick, Woike writes. A more realistic successful outcome would be finding someone who could be a top-eight rotation player, according to Woike, who suggests that the team will likely target a high-motor player. One prospect who fits that mold is Zuby Ejiofor (St. John’s), a slightly undersized defensive big man who is likely to be in their draft range, Benjamin Royer writes for the Orange County Register. Chris Cenac Jr. (Houston), Tarris Reed Jr. (Connecticut), Jayden Quaintance (Kentucky), and Isaiah Evans (Duke) are some other options Royer breaks down.
- The Clippers are at one the true inflection points of the 2026 NBA draft, with no clear sense of who will be the first player off the board after the presumed consensus top four. Los Angeles could also choose to trade back or out of the draft if a deal emerged to land the club a star player or additional assets, Janis Carr writes for the Register, before breaking down several of the potential options the Clippers will consider if they do select at number five.
- Devin Booker has officially changed his jersey number for the Suns, from No. 1 to No. 15, Duane Rankin of AZ Central notes (via Twitter). The move is a tribute to his father, Melvin Booker, who played two seasons in the NBA from 1995-1997. “I’ve been chasing 15 my whole career. It’s always been a family number,” he said. “Obviously [my dad] wore it and I looked at [him] as the blueprint for success.”
And-Ones: TIME List, Flight Risks, Option Dates, Power Rankings
Lakers superstar LeBron James tops TIME’s 2026 list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports. The four-time MVP isn’t the only person affiliated with the NBA on the list, as Victor Wembanyama, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, Cooper Flagg, Stephen Curry, Mavericks president Masai Ujiri and Shams Charania of ESPN are also present.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report lists his 10 biggest “flight risks” — the players most likely to change teams — in free agency. Four Lakers — Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton and James — are on Pincus’ list, as are Heat forward Andrew Wiggins and Sixers guard Quentin Grimes. Wiggins ($30.2MM) and Ayton ($8.1MM) both hold player options for 2026/27.
- While most player and team option decisions for next season are due by June 29, in some cases the deadlines are a little sooner, notes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Trae Young (Wizards) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Grizzlies), for example, have until June 23 to decide whether they want to pick up their lucrative player options, while the Clippers have until June 26 to determine what to do with their $16MM option on Bogdan Bogdanovic.
- Ten ESPN insiders have voted on their power rankings for 2026/27, with the Thunder, Spurs, Knicks, Celtics and Pistons comprising the top five. The Kings, Nets and Wizards are at the bottom end of the rankings.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Warriors, Curry, Kings
The Lakers enter the offseason with Luka Doncic under contract, as well as a whole lot of questions outside of the Slovenian star.
One of the key inflection points is what comes next for LeBron James. He could re-sign with the team, leave in free agency, or retire. If he does re-sign with the Lakers, how much does he command on his next contract?
Whether there is a right price to be found between the team and the 41-year-old star, who projects to be the third option offensively, is a topic of debate in the recent Los Angeles Times roundtable, with columnist Bill Plaschke believing that the two sides will be at odds in terms of what they’d want in a potential deal, though others disagree.
The panel found consensus in the desire to bring back free agent Austin Reaves and in the need to upgrade the center spot, regardless of whether or not Deandre Ayton picks up his $8.1MM player option for next season.
We have more news and notes from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors hosted six players in pre-draft workouts on Tuesday, the team announced (via Twitter): Donovan Atwell (Texas Tech), Quadir Copeland (NC State), Josh Dix (Creighton), RJ Godfrey (Clemson), Ugonna Onyenso (Virginia), and Oziyah Sellers (St. John’s). Golden State has the 11th and 54th overall picks in the 2026 draft. Onyenso is the highest-rated player on this list, coming in at 43 on Jeremy Woo’s big board for ESPN due to his impressive shot-blocking ability.
- Stephen Curry‘s new deal with the Chinese shoe company Li-Ning is worth over $400MM over 10 years, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter), who notes that the Warriors‘ star had other companies making competitive offers. Charania previously reported that the deal would allow Curry to sign other athletes to his brand and expand beyond sneakers (Twitter link).
- While the Spurs and Knicks prepare to face off in the Finals, the Kings are stuck with reminders of where they’ve been and where they’re going. The year after Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers to the Finals, the Kings now prepare to watch the coach they fired, Mike Brown, face off against the other point guard they traded, De’Aaron Fox, while they’re stuck trying to navigate the same type of dysfunction that defined the franchise for 20 years, writes Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee (subscriber link).
Lakers Notes: 3-0 Deficit, Hachimura, Reaves, Caruso, Ayton
The Lakers are facing playoff elimination on Monday after dropping the first three games of their second-round series against the defending champion Thunder. Head coach JJ Redick shared his message to his players after Sunday’s practice, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
“Our first slide that we put up in training camp was [to] win the day,” Redick said. “Today was a quick offensive review and then just going over some stuff defensively. Got to win today and we got to win tomorrow. We know what we’re facing being down 3-0. So it’s just more of a mindset check than anything else.”
No playoff team has blown a 3-0 series lead, with those clubs holding a 161-0 series mark in those situations, Turner notes.
Forward Rui Hachimura, who has been on a “heater,” as Redick put it, is averaging 18.3 points while shooting 57.1% from long distance against Oklahoma City. He said the Lakers can’t afford to make mistakes or to have a drop in energy, particularly in the third quarter.
“I feel like every game we’re getting closer,” said Hachimura, an impending free agent. “Especially last night … apparently we had the best offensive game of the series, even the playoffs. I think we had really good looks, great looks. But I think defensively we, especially in the third quarter, we kind of slowed down. I don’t know [if] we got burned out or we got tired, whatever.
“So, I think our focus is like how we play in the first half we have to do in the whole game. … That’s going to be our goal.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Hachimura talked about how the Lakers have focused so much of their defensive attention on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has struggled in the series by his lofty standards, but have gotten torched by several other Thunder players, per Khobi Price of The California Post (Twitter video links). The 28-year-old Japanese forward also discussed what Los Angeles could learn from Oklahoma City, Price adds. “Everybody knows their roles,” Hachimura said. “Whatever they give them, the coaches, the team, giving them the roles, they understand it. They for sure have no complaints, they embrace their roles…basketball is a team sport. Everybody [has] a role. I can see that everybody knows that, what they’re supposed to do or not. So I think that’s where the difference is.”
- The Lakers initially thought Austin Reaves wouldn’t return from his strained oblique until the conference finals, but the 27-year-old guard spent extended time in a giant hyperbaric chamber at the UCLA medical center and made it back for Game 5 of the first round, as Ramona Shelburne of ESPN details. “I left my house every day around 7:30 in the morning to get treatment and didn’t come home until about 8 at night,” Reaves told ESPN. “I was going crazy trying to get back. … I was in that hyperbaric chamber all the time.”
- Even if the Lakers had been healthy, their star-driven approach has revealed an “uncomfortable lesson,” Shelburne writes, as the Thunder are the superior team not just because of their top-end talent but because of their depth and continuity. Former Laker and current Thunder guard Alex Caruso says it’s a joy being on such a connected team. “It feels great to be a part of,” Caruso said. “You do it the right way and then you have people that you enjoy being around every day, and it makes it really simple.”
- Starting center Deandre Ayton had a couple defensive miscues in the third quarter of Game 3, when the Thunder broke the game open. Redick was asked about the plays on Sunday, as Price relays (Twitter video link). “I’ve been around DA for a season now. I know how special he is for our group to succeed,” Redick said. “And I told him this morning, I said to him in the Houston series at one point he was the big part of the reason we were winning the series. He was a big part of the reason we won the series. I believe in him and he’s going to help us win tomorrow.”
Lakers Notes: Ayton, Doncic, LeBron, Redick
Beyond the imposing 3-0 deficit they face after a trio of blowout losses, the biggest concern for the Lakers in their series with Oklahoma City might be the uninspired performance of Deandre Ayton, Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times writes in a subscriber-only piece.
L.A. was counting on Ayton to help neutralize OKC’s big front line, but he only played 24 minutes on Saturday, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds. He’s shooting 39.3% in the series after connecting at 60.4% during the regular season and was just 3-of-11 in the restricted area during the first two games.
Head coach JJ Redick pulled Ayton from Game 3 after a sequence that saw the Thunder collect three offensive rebounds within 19 seconds, ending with a foul when he shoved Ajay Mitchell on a drive to the basket. Redick didn’t want to reinsert Jaxson Hayes, who was ineffective in the 8:30 of playing time he got on Saturday, so he turned to rookie forward Adou Thiero to patrol the middle. The Lakers surrendered another offensive rebound off a free throw after Thiero entered the game, and Nguyen observes that Hayes “stared blankly ahead and shook his head slowly” with his arms folded across his chest.
It’s a frustrating repeat of last year’s playoffs, when Redick eventually opted to play without a center in a first-round loss to Minnesota. Ayton was signed last summer to fix the issue and was mostly effective during the regular season and the series against Houston. However, his meltdown against a superior OKC team raises questions about whether he’s a long-term solution. He holds an $8.1MM player option for next season, with a decision due by June 29.
“DA is a hell of a player,” Marcus Smart said after Saturday’s loss. “We all know it. We just want to get him the touches and get him the feel early, just to give them a different look. … All the guards are doing their thing. So we’re just trying to get the big fella involved.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- It looks like L.A. will be eliminated before Luka Doncic has a chance to return from his hamstring injury, which is bad news for the future as well as the current season, notes Mirjam Swanson of The Los Angeles Times (subscription required). Without their top player, it’s hard for the Lakers to gauge exactly how far away they are from being able to compete with the Thunder. “Look, yeah, when you have the league’s leading scorer out there – if he was – it definitely changes the dynamic of a team,” Luke Kennard said. “Obviously, we miss him. And we know he’s working his butt off right now [to return to play] … but yeah, I mean, he would definitely change it for us. But right now, he’s not.”
- LeBron James looked old and tired as OKC seized control of the game in the third quarter, contends Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times (subscription required). James played nearly 11 minutes in the quarter, but finished with just one made shot, no rebounds and a minus-13 rating.
- Redick may be out of answers as he tries to match up with the league’s deepest team, suggests Nick Friedell of The Athletic. The Thunder have pummeled the Lakers in the second half of all three games and have clear talent advantages throughout the roster. “Typically, if you can poke holes in a playoff series, there’s a good chance they might have a temporary solution or can sort of adjust maybe a little bit,” Redick said. “This team in-game, because of their personnel, can just adjust like that. They need shooting on the floor? Great. They need multiple wing defenders on the floor? Great. They need two bigs on the floor? Great.”
Lakers Notes: Doncic, Ayton, Smart, Kennard, LeBron
Although various reporters have provided updates on Luka Doncic‘s status as he recovers from a hamstring strain – including ESPN’s Shams Charania referring to him over the weekend as “week to week” – the Lakers haven’t offered many hints about when they expect the star guard back — or even if they think he’ll return at all before their season is over.
As Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops writes, head coach JJ Redick simply told reporters after Sunday’s practice that there’s “no update” on Doncic. On Monday, the Lakers formally ruled him out for Tuesday’s Game 1, while the Thunder did the same with injured forward Jalen Williams, who is dealing with a left hamstring injury of his own, per Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press.
In a roundtable discussing the series, Justin Martinez, Joe Mussatto, and Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman suggest that Williams – who suffered a Grade 1 strain compared to a Grade 2 strain for Doncic – is probably ahead of Luka in the recovery process. However, The Oklahoman’s trio also suggests that the Thunder don’t necessarily need Williams back to win this series, whereas it’s hard to imagine the Lakers having a legitimate shot if Doncic doesn’t play.
Still, Redick remains confident in his team, noting that its success down the stretch of the regular season and in the first round wasn’t about the contributions of a single player.
“I remember there was a press conference that we did after one of our games during our 16-2 stretch,” Redick said after the Lakers closed out Houston on Friday, per Benjamin Royer of the Southern California News Group. “And you guys were like really hammering home a point about a specific player. … I said, ‘The reason our team is winning is because of our team, because each guy is starring in his role and contributing to winning.’ And that’s the story of this playoff series for us, where each guy had moments that helped us win the game.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- If the Lakers are going to have a legitimate chance to upset the Thunder, they’ll need a huge series from former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, the player who “changes our ceiling the most,” according to Redick. Ayton said his goal against the defending champions is to play “bigger” and to be “relentless on the glass,” writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times.
- Marcus Smart is another key contributor for Los Angeles, and he and Ayton have been linked together all season after accepting buyouts and then joining the Lakers on discounted deals that feature second-year player option, notes Dan Woike of The Athletic. “We’re both trying to get our names back into the good graces of the basketball gods and just show what we still can do,” Smart said of himself and Ayton.
- Melissa Rohlin of the California Post identifies Luke Kennard as the Lakers’ X-factor in the second round, arguing that the sharpshooter needs to be less deferential and look to recapture his shooting touch after scoring just 11 points on 4-of-18 shooting in the final three games of the first round. Kennard is on an expiring contract, so a strong performance vs. the Thunder could help earn him a stronger payday in free agency.
- In an interesting story for ESPN.com, Dave McMenamin shares several highlights from an ongoing conversation he maintained with Lakers star LeBron James in eight cities across the entire 2025/26 season. The wide-ranging discussion includes McMenamin doing his best to get James’ thoughts on how he stacks up to Michael Jordan. “I never have compared myself to MJ because our games are totally different,” LeBron said. “I have been a point-forward/forward-point my whole life. I have always looked for the pass. MJ kind of looked for the shot. Not kind of, he did. He looked for the shot. There are a lot of things where I would say my game is a lot different and a little better than his, but s–t, he was f—ing great. We’re both great. We’re both great basketball players.”