Lakers, James Haven’t Held Trade Or Buyout Discussions
Despite rampant speculation about LeBron James‘ future with the Lakers, it’s expected that he will be with the organization for training camp, Dan Woike and Joe Vardon of The Athletic report.
Those expectations come from both members of the Lakers organization and people close to the 40-year-old superstar. There have been no discussions regarding trade or buyout scenarios between James’ representatives and the team’s front office, according to The Athletic duo.
This essentially confirms an ESPN report that his agent, Rich Paul, hasn’t asked the Lakers to trade James following his decision to exercise a $52.6MM player option for next season. The Athletic’s sources hear the Lakers have received no indication from James or his representatives that he would request a trade or ask for a buyout.
Even if he eventually does seek to leave the Lakers, there are major roadblocks toward reaching that goal.
While a third stint with his hometown Cavaliers has frequently been mentioned as a logical landing spot, Woike and Vardon point out that the only realistic way for that to happen is a buyout prior to training camp — the Lakers, who have championship aspirations, have no incentive to take that route.
Cleveland is operating over the second apron and cannot aggregate salaries, which would make a James trade virtually impossible without significant cost-cutting. Second-apron restrictions would also prohibit the Cavs from signing LeBron if he’s bought out after the regular season begins.
The Warriors and Knicks have also been speculated as teams who might go all-in for a player nearing retirement in order to win next year’s championship. However, trading away James for a high-salary player such as Jimmy Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns, both of whom are signed for at least the next two seasons, would wreck the Lakers’ plans to have salary cap flexibility next summer.
The Mavericks, who have also been thrown into the rumor mill regarding James, don’t have interest in gutting their roster to match his salary in a trade, The Athletic duo adds. It’s also noteworthy that LeBron has a full no-trade clause in his contract, so the Lakers can’t deal him unless he signs off on the transaction.
Los Angeles Notes: C. Christie, Brown, LeBron, Bronny
Second-year Clippers guard Cam Christie is getting some Summer League reps for the second straight year. The 6’5″ swingman out of Minnesota played sparingly during his 2024/25 rookie season, appearing in just 13 games. He recently outlined how he wants to grow in ’25/26, per Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter video link).
“Really just defensive intensity and shooting,” Christie said of what he could bring to the team in his second season. “Obviously I know we have ball handling and scoring with James [Harden] and Kawhi [Leonard], and we have great players with Zu [Ivica Zubac], but I feel like defense can always help the team, no matter what. Defensive intensity and then shooting as well, being able to knock down open shots, space the floor for our main guys, and help them out that way.”
Christie went on to credit teammates Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn for much of his defensive evolution since the start of his rookie season, along with big brother Max Christie, who is now a Maverick.
“I think on the ball I’ve learned a lot, just from watching DJ,” Christie said. “We have similar builds, and he’s obviously a point of attack defender so to watch him navigate screens and stuff like that, and my brother as well, because he’s also point of attack, so learning things from him. And then, just off-ball-wise, learning from Kris, how he’s able to break on the ball and traps, and stuff like that.”
There’s more out of Los Angeles:
- Although his minutes were limited by a second-half right ankle injury, third-year Clippers forward Kobe Brown flashed plenty of promise in a 95-92 Summer League victory against Houston Friday, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. In just 20 minutes, Brown notched 14 points, four boards and four assists. “He’s just got to continue to do what he did tonight,” Clippers Summer League head coach Jeremy Castleberry said. “Play great defense. Make the right reads. We’ve been talking about it all training camp. Get in the paint, draw two, make the right reads and if they put a small on him, he showed his ability to be able to score against a mismatch tonight and doing it the right way — quickly, getting downhill, not dancing, just getting straight to the point.”
- As trade rumors swirl around Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James, Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times suggests the four-time MVP needs to follow Hall of Fame former L.A. great Kobe Bryant‘s example when it comes to retirement. In 2015, on an expiring contract just as James is now, Bryant announced his 20th season would be his last, and was able to endear himself to the league at large during a prolonged farewell tour on a lottery-bound Lakers squad. While Plaschke isn’t demanding James call it a career just yet, he does see in the Bryant narrative a solid approach for James to take when the time comes.
- James’ eldest son, second-year Lakers guard Bronny James, enjoyed an encouraging Summer League performance in a 94-81 win against New Orleans on Saturday with LeBron sitting courtside, writes Turner in another piece. Bronny James scored 14 points while shooting 5-of-11 from the field and also contributing three assists and a pair of steals. “Yeah, we want him to play on the ball,” Lakers Summer League head coach Lindsey Harding said. “Especially in tight moments, I like the ball in his hands and I want him to make those decisions. You can go through as many drills as you want, but nothing beats live.”
Agent Says LeBron James Hasn’t Asked To Be Traded
Trade speculation has been swirling around LeBron James for the past two weeks since his decision to exercise a $52.6MM player option for next season was accompanied by a statement from agent Rich Paul indicating that James will be monitoring the Lakers‘ personnel moves to make sure they’re assembling a championship-level roster.
During today’s broadcast of L.A.’s Summer League game (Twitter video link), Dave McMenamin of ESPN relayed a conversation with Paul, who said James hasn’t asked him to work out a trade and he hasn’t discussed the possibility of a future trade with team officials. McMenamin adds that four teams contacted Paul directly to express interest in acquiring James.
Paul also dispelled a theory that James is upset because the Lakers didn’t offer him a contract beyond 2025/26, with McMenamin saying that Paul and James never asked the team for that.
James was at Saturday’s game to watch his son, Bronny James, and the rest of L.A.’s Summer League squad. McMenamin said he gave LeBron a chance to appear on the broadcast to discuss the situation, but he responded, “I ain’t got nothing to talk about.”
McMenamin states that it’s “business as usual” for the Lakers, who are trying to put together the best possible roster around James and Luka Doncic. He lists their assets in potential deals as their 2031 first-round pick and the expiring contracts of Rui Hachimura, Maxi Kleber and Gabe Vincent. They can open a roster spot by waiving Shake Milton before his $3MM contract for next season becomes fully guaranteed on July 20.
James raised some eyebrows around the league by visiting the Cavaliers’ practice facility last week. Although he explained it’s an annual occurrence because he lives in the area during the offseason, it’s possible that similar incidents will continue throughout the summer and maybe into the season until his future gets settled.
Pacific Notes: LeBron, Luka, Koloko, Suns, Collins
Within an in-depth feature for ESPN.com, Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst take a closer look at the Lakers‘ efforts to “delicately” transition from their LeBron James era to the Luka Doncic era and the challenges they’ve faced along the way.
As Shelburne and Windhorst detail, James wasn’t surprised by the fact that the Lakers have prioritized Doncic in recent months and understands the team has to set itself up for the future. However, “it also did not go down easily,” according to ESPN’s duo, who point out that LeBron specifically chose the Lakers as a free agent back in 2018, whereas Doncic never asked to be a Laker and had been planning to remain in Dallas for his entire career.
Shelburne and Windhorst suggest the Lakers have signaled their shift to Doncic with a “series of microaggressions” that started with not giving James any advance warning about the February trade for the Mavs star. Those microaggressions also included letting Doncic – but not LeBron – know ahead of time about the sale to Mark Walter so that he had a message of congratulations ready to go on social media, as well as not offering to extend James’ contract beyond the 2025/26 season.
James has responded to the Lakers’ decisions with a series of “cryptic hints” of his own, with agent Rich Paul‘s statement in late June representing the most notable one. According to Shelburne and Windhorst, Paul’s comments about LeBron wanting “to make every season he has left count” were interpreted in many different ways by teams around the NBA — some executives saw the statement as James pushing the Lakers to go all-in on this year’s roster, some viewed it as a soft trade request, and at least one considered it an “elaborate pout” due to the lack of contract extension.
Even if nothing comes of that statement and James spends the 2025/26 season with the Lakers without incident, it has had an impact. According to ESPN’s sources, veteran center Brook Lopez was strongly considering the Lakers in free agency due to their open starting spot at center, but was “wary of the uncertainty” surrounding James’ future and ultimately opted for a backup role with the Clippers instead.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Christian Koloko is still a restricted free agent, having not yet accepted his two-way qualifying offer from the Lakers, but there have been no indications to this point that he’ll be changing teams this offseason. The big man was added to the Lakers’ Summer League roster before the club’s Las Vegas opener on Thursday, notes Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).
- If and when the Suns finalize a buyout agreement with Bradley Beal, the expectation is that they’ll use that roster spot on a point guard or possibly a combo guard, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.
- The Clippers haven’t really deployed a traditional power forward in recent years, but they got exactly that sort of player when they acquired John Collins from Utah earlier this week, which will change the makeup of their roster, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. “Sometimes you have to make a decision between getting a great athlete who may struggle shooting the ball from range, versus getting the really skilled player who just maybe is just an average functional athlete,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said of the move. “John has shown the ability to be both, which is huge.”
Lakers Notes: Buss, Ayton, Doncic, LeBron
A statement last month indicated that Jeanie Buss is expected to remain the Lakers‘ governor “for the foreseeable future” even after the team is sold to incoming owner Mark Walter. That “foreseeable future” will span quite some time, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who hears from a source that the agreement between the two sides calls for Buss to remain in her governor role for at least the next five seasons.
We have more on the Lakers:
- Speaking to reporters at his introductory press conference on Tuesday, new Lakers center Deandre Ayton said that signing with Los Angeles “feels like a video game” and that he doesn’t intend to take the opportunity for granted, as Mark Medina of RG.org relays. Ayton called new teammate Luka Doncic a “once-in-a-generation player” and cited Doncic’s and LeBron James‘ career assist numbers as one reason why he expects to thrive in L.A. “They turn (their teammates) into superstars,” Ayton said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “They make them bigger than their roles, they make them very important on the floor.”
- Ayton also said on Tuesday that he’s motivated by critics who have questioned his effort, focus, and maturity, according to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. “It fuels me,” Ayton said. “It fuels me up completely. And it’s a different type of drive that I’ve been wanting to express for a long time. I think this is the perfect timing, here in the purple and gold. And it’s a platform that I cannot run from. I can show what I really am and just be around some greats to really emphasize that for me as well. It is a lot of fuel in me to prove to the whole world.”
- After social media posts revealed that LeBron James visited the Cavaliers‘ practice facility last week, the star forward clarified (via Twitter) that it’s an annual occurrence for him, since he lives and trains in the area during the offseason. Still, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during an appearance on ESPN Cleveland (Twitter video link) that LeBron knew what he was doing when he was photographed in the Cavs’ building amidst speculation about his future. “LeBron absolutely knows that he will cause a wave with these social media things,” Windhorst said (hat tip to Adam Zagoria of NJ.com). “On one hand, he is just coming home for the holiday, he is just doing something that he has done numerous times in the past. On the other hand, by doing what’s he’s doing, he’s absolutely poking the bear and being passive aggressive. And by the way, the Lakers are being passive-aggressive back at LeBron. They did not announce his option pick-up. So they’re both acting in the same way. Now, how is this going to get resolved? And my answer to you, in full honesty, is I don’t know.”
Western Notes: Nuggets, Lakers, Coward, Queen, Jazz
After former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone spent years asking for more veteran depth, Denver’s new top decision-makers – led by general manager Ben Tenzer – have made the sort of moves this offseason that he would’ve appreciated, as Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst write for ESPN.com.
Even with Jonas Valanciunas‘ NBA future up in the air, the Nuggets did well to bring back Bruce Brown and add Tim Hardaway Jr. on minimum-salary deals. Executives around the league also took notice of their decision to part with their lone tradable future first-round pick (2032) and forward Michael Porter Jr. in a deal that netted them Cameron Johnson and took them out of the tax.
“That was a prized asset they gave up,” one general manager told ESPN, referencing the unprotected 2032 pick. “Teams have been eyeing that one to see if they’d actually use it.”
“I know Cam Johnson has some past health issues, but Porter’s back issues and knee issues make this move make sense to me,” another executive said to ESPN. “I think Cam and (Nikola) Jokic will connect on the floor well. They both think the game the same way.”
That last point could be an important one, according to one rival GM: “There is only one person who needs to be impressed with their offseason. That’s Jokic. Sometimes the best trades you make are the ones that engage your superstar. If Jokic is energized by those moves, then it was a great summer.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Within that same ESPN.com story, Bontemps and Windhorst check in on the Lakers, noting that the club has received a handful of inquiries from “eyebrow-raised” teams following Rich Paul‘s cryptic statement accompanying LeBron James‘ opt-in. There’s nothing happening on that front for now, but teams will certainly monitor the situation, according to ESPN’s duo, who add that there was a “small bidding war” early in free agency for forward Jake LaRavia. He ultimately agreed to join the Lakers.
- No. 11 overall pick Cedric Coward, whom the Grizzlies traded up to draft, is doubtful to play in Summer League this month, a team spokesperson told Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Coward is still making his way back from a shoulder injury that limited him to just six games at Washington State last season. While the 21-year-old said last week that he feels ready to play, Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman told reporters at the time that the rookie wing had only done 1-on-0 work and would need to take part in 5-on-5 drills to be fully cleared.
- When the Pelicans faced criticism in the wake of last week’s draft, it was more about giving up a valuable unprotected 2026 first-round pick to move up 10 spots from No. 23 to No. 13 than about the player they chose to pick at that spot. But big man Derik Queen is still taking that criticism personally and using it as motivation, writes Rod Walker of NOLA.com. “I don’t think anybody in that class ever is going to be better than me,” Queen said. “I block all the noise out. (Pelicans head of basketball operations) Joe (Dumars) has got a lot of faith in me. Most of these guys (in the draft), I beat in high school. It doesn’t really matter. I know the NBA is a whole different level. Don’t get too big-headed. Don’t get too low. And just beat on them next year when they come in, and make Joe look like a genius.”
- Chuck Terrell, who had been working for the Jazz as their vice president of basketball intelligence, has left that position to become the general manager of Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball program, agent Andy Miller tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Pacific Notes: Horford, Warriors, Reaves, Luka, Ayton, Huntley
Teams around the NBA widely believe that free agent big man Al Horford will end up on the Warriors, Jake Fischer said during on a Bleacher Report stream on Thursday (YouTube link).
Appearing on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Shams Charania confirmed that the Warriors are “hopeful” about where they stand in the Horford sweepstakes, but cautioned that a decision may not be imminent and that there’s no guarantee the 39-year-old will continue his playing career.
“I’m told he is reviewing multiple options, including the Warriors, the Lakers, but also retirement,” Charania said, per RealGM. “He is 39 years old. He just finished season 18. I’m told it would be a surprise if he makes a final decision by this weekend. He certainly has earned the right to make a decision at his own time.”
Charania made his comments before the Lakers agreed to bring back free agent center Jaxson Hayes, so it’s unclear whether or not they’re still in play for Horford.
If they do want to add more frontcourt depth, the Lakers could open up a 15-man roster spot by moving off Shake Milton‘s non-guaranteed contract and would have $5.1MM in bi-annual exception money to offer Horford, though there has been chatter linking De’Anthony Melton to that roster spot, as Dan Woike of The Athletic tweets.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors are in the market for a veteran big man in large part because long-tenured center Kevon Looney is headed to New Orleans. Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic takes a look back at what Looney meant to Golden State, referring to him as the team’s “backbone.”
- Austin Reaves‘ agent, Aaron Reilly, denied a report from John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter video link), who claimed that Reaves and LeBron James don’t like playing with newest Lakers star Luka Doncic. “Austin has nothing but the utmost respect for Luka and truly enjoys playing alongside him,” Reilly said, per Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation (Twitter link). “Any suggestion to the contrary is completely false. He’s excited to be on the court with Luka—both now and in the future.
- While Deandre Ayton is getting a second-year player option on his new deal with the Lakers, neither side wants him to exercise it, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic, who explains that both Ayton and the Lakers are hoping he far outperforms that the value of that option (in the $8.4MM range) and can command a significant raise in free agency next summer. Team sources are confident the Lakers have the right coaching staff to make it happen, Woike writes, noting that JJ Redick has a reputation for relating to players and assistant Scott Brooks previously worked with Ayton in Portland.
- The Suns‘ two-way contract with undrafted rookie forward CJ Huntley will cover two seasons, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Lakers Notes: Knecht, Ayton, Doncic, Bronny, Jokic, Thiero
Dalton Knecht will play for the Lakers’ Summer League team. He’s looking to expand his game and showcase more skills beyond his three-point shooting.
“Just showing what I can do,” Knecht told Khobi Price of the Orange County Register. “Feel like I kind of showed a little bit throughout my rookie year, but just keep building on top of that.”
Knecht was part of the rescinded midseason trade with Charlotte when Mark Williams failed the Lakers’ physical. He remained in the rotation and averaged 9.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 37.6 percent from long range in 78 appearances as a rookie.
“After the season we had a talk and stuff like that,” Knecht said of coach JJ Redick. “And we’ve been doing a workout. We’ve got lunch and stuff. Just talking and getting to know each other more and then being able to communicate with each other. That’s the most important thing. Then, obviously, JJ is a great shooter and we’ve just been doing shooting drills and stuff like that. It’s good just getting to the gym with your head coach. Learn from him, because he’s a great shooter as well.”
We have more on the Lakers:
- At least one prominent Laker is enticed about the prospect of Deandre Ayton joining the team. Luka Doncic is excited about the opportunity to play with Ayton, according to Dan Woike and David Aldridge of The Athletic. They are both clients of longtime agent Bill Duffy.
- Statements by agent Rich Paul after LeBron James opted in to his contract has fueled speculation that James might want to be traded at some point if he’s unhappy with the team’s roster moves. That was news to his son and teammate Bronny James. “Actually, one of my friends called me, talking about where [I was going to play next season], what I was going to do because they saw my dad [in the news],” Bronny told Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I didn’t see it. He called me. I was like, ‘Yeah, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ … I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. There’s a lot of stuff going around that I don’t pay attention to.”
- Doncic paired up with Nikola Jokic? That is the dream scenario for Lakers fans and Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus outlines how the Lakers are seemingly making moves designed to clear enough future cap space to bring in Jokic at or before the 2027 offseason if he becomes disillusioned with the Nuggets. While Pincus acknowledges it may be a pipe dream, he points out that the Lakers have a history of making unlikely deals to land future Hall-of-Famers.
- Adou Thiero, drafted with the 36th overall pick, won’t play this summer for the Lakers, Woike tweets. He’s still rehabbing the left knee injury he suffered this past season at Arkansas but he’s expected to be fully cleared for training camp.
Lakers Rumors: LeBron, Kessler, Richards
Although ESPN’s Brian Windhorst still isn’t expecting the Lakers to trade LeBron James, he said on Wednesday’s episode of First Take (YouTube link) that he doesn’t consider it quite as unlikely as he did a few days ago when reports of the star forward opting in for 2025/26 were accompanied by a “nebulous” statement from agent Rich Paul.
“When the idea of a trade came up, I slammed the door on it,” Windhorst said (hat tip to RealGM). “I said, first off, LeBron wants to be a Laker. If he didn’t want to be a Laker, he could have opted out. He has a no-trade clause. Over the last three days, I have unlocked the door. I wouldn’t say that I’m opening the door. I would just say I’ve unlocked the door. The door I slammed and locked on Sunday, I’m not 100 percent sure.
“That is because my conversations over the last three days have crystalized that the Lakers are essentially viewing LeBron as an expiring contract. And that may sound like a toss-off statement, but that’s not insignificant. LeBron has never been an expiring contract. Quite literally. Never in his 23-year career, over the nine contracts he has signed, over all the different teams he has been on, he has never been on the last year of his contract. He has never been 40 years old. He has never not been the franchise player on his team.”
As has been previously reported, James and the Lakers didn’t have any serious discussions about a new contract that would extend beyond 2025/26. That may signal that LeBron isn’t sure whether he’ll continue playing beyond 2026 — either way, it means he’ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer, since his contract can’t be extended before then.
“What happens to expiring contracts in the NBA? They are viewed as trade pieces,” Windhorst said. “For all those reasons (a trade still seems unlikely)—the money, the fact that LeBron and Luka (Doncic) are still a very formidable duo. The fact that the Lakers are not done with their offseason. The fact that trading him is crazy. The fact that this is being built around Luka and they have to maintain their cap sheet and all of those things. Everything in that makes sense. I’m just unlocking the door because I’m not as convinced as before of it’s impossibility.”
We have more on the Lakers:
- If James did want to be traded, there are teams “who would step up and make offers,” Windhorst said during an ESPN segment on Tuesday evening (YouTube link). With that in mind, Fred Katz of The Athletic considers what it might look like if teams like the Cavaliers, Mavericks, Warriors, Knicks, and Clippers were to try to make a play for the four-time MVP. Cleveland looks like the longest shot out of that group, since the Cavs are operating far above the second tax apron and would have to gut their roster to aggregate contracts and shed enough salary to make a legal trade.
- Addressing the idea of the Lakers trading for Jazz center Walker Kessler, Jovan Buha (YouTube link) reiterates that Utah’s asking price would have to come down for it to be a viable possibility for Los Angeles. “I’ve just heard nothing but they want two picks plus a young player for Kessler,” Buha said. “So the Lakers cannot do that trade. They can give one pick and one young player and a swap. You could throw in a couple swaps. … Take off the protections on the top-four pick in 2027. But I just don’t know if that’s going to be enough for Utah.” Because they’ve traded away their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks already, the Lakers can’t put more than one first-rounder (2031 or 2032) in a trade offer due to the Stepien rule.
- Phoenix big man Nick Richards is reportedly among the veteran centers the Lakers have expressed some level of interest in. The Suns have gotten inquiries from a few teams about Richards, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), but it’s unclear if they’ll actually move him. As Gambadoro explains, they like Richards as a player and like the idea of having a reliable insurance policy behind Mark Williams, who has battled injuries in recent years.
- In case you missed it, our check-in on the top remaining free agents this morning included Lakers-related items on Deandre Ayton and Damian Lillard.
Lakers Rumors: DFS, Ayton, LeBron, Wiggins, LaRavia
After Dorian Finney-Smith turned down his $15.4MM player option for the 2025/26 season, the Lakers offered him a new contract, but it only covered two seasons, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic. The veteran forward instead agreed to a four-year, $53MM deal with Houston.
As Woike explains, the Lakers want to maintain as much future cap flexibility as they can in order to be able to pursue a star-level player to pair with Luka Doncic following LeBron James‘ eventual retirement.
That point has also been made by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who writes that the Lakers want to preserve 2027 cap room in the hopes of landing a maximum-salary player, and by Shams Charania, who discussed the subject on SportsCenter late on Monday night (Twitter video link).
“They are really prioritizing two-year contracts right now,” Charania said. “They want to have max-salary space in 2027.”
How that stance affects the Lakers’ search for a center remains to be seen. While Brook Lopez committed to the Clippers on Monday and Clint Capela agreed to a deal with Houston, it’s Deandre Ayton who has been the team’s top priority, according to Woike, who points out that Ayton and Doncic share the same agent (Bill Duffy).
It sounds like the Lakers are unlikely to offer more than two years to Ayton, so if there’s a rival suitor willing to put a longer deal on the table, that could be problematic for Los Angeles. However, I’d be a little surprised if that’s the case after his time in Portland ended via buyout.
Woike points to the Bucks as one team to watch for Ayton, noting that they should have access to most of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and lost their starting center (Lopez) on Monday.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- ESPN’s Dave McMenamin spoke on NBA Today on Monday about where things stand with James following agent Rich Paul‘s Saturday statement about evaluating “what’s best for LeBron” as the star forward opted into the final year of his contract. “(Paul) has not had any discussion with the Lakers about wanting a trade, on the back end of this statement,” McMenamin said (YouTube link). “He did say that four teams have contacted him in the last 24 hours wanting to take trades, but Rich didn’t have any substantive conversations with those teams either. Right now, LeBron is focused on playing on a championship-caliber roster. Rich told me there’s no guarantees in building a championship-caliber roster, but we know what it looks like and what it doesn’t look like. And we’ll see if in a week from now – when Rob Pelinka‘s finished doing his work with this roster – if it looks like a winning, realistic situation.”
- According to Jovan Buha (Twitter video link), the rumored trade talks between the Lakers and Heat about Andrew Wiggins haven’t gained any real momentum due to a “pretty high” asking price on Miami’s end. “We’re talking basically everything or close to everything that the Lakers could offer from a top-end asset standpoint,” Buha said. “So I don’t think that is going to happen. I don’t think the Lakers are trading Rui (Hachimura), a first, and Dalton (Knecht) for Andrew Wiggins. That’s not fair value. That’s not a realistic trade. I think Miami’s playing hardball. We’ll see if they soften their stance.”
- League sources tell Woike that Jake LaRavia, who agreed to a two-year, $12MM deal with the Lakers on Monday, was the team’s first call when free agency opened, and that the free agent forward was impressed by the way Pelinka sold the Lakers’ strength and JJ Redick‘s “detailed” plan for how he would be used. One executive who spoke to Woike about the move lauded LaRavia for his toughness, shooting, and burgeoning play-making skills, while another said, “Everyone can use a player like him.”