The Thunder have traded Lu Dort to the Hawks, which, in effect, has extremely complicated the Lakers’ pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga. Since the Lakers no longer have an open roster spot, a free agency offer for Kuminga is off the table unless the Lakers’ front office decides to waive a player.
But considering that the Hawks have received Lu Dort as a wing, they already have 17 players with standard contracts on their roster and need to cut two more players before the start of the season.
Therefore, they are no longer expected to be interested in the initially proposed sign-and-trade deal that landed Jarred Vanderbilt and a 2032 pick swap with the Hawks for Kuminga. Hence, it is anticipated that unless the Lakers find a third team that absorbs Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract, the avenue of a potential sign-and-trade is dead.
Initially, the Hawks did not pick up the $24.4 million team option for Kuminga with the intention that they would facilitate a sign-and-trade deal with any team Kuminga wanted to join in free agency.
The Hawks initially remained as a potential team to sign him once again, and among the other teams interested in landing Kuminga are the Cavaliers and the Bucks.
But now, if the Hawks can no longer sign him directly, and the Cavaliers potentially land LeBron James this summer, the two realistic options for him remain the Lakers and the Bucks. And since the Bucks have just traded Giannis Antetokounmpo, they are now in a rebuild around Herro and may be far from playing winning basketball.
Therefore, on paper, Jonathan Kuminga should ideally want to go to the Lakers if LeBron James heads to the Cavaliers. But he will have to either take a sharp cut in his expected salary or help the Lakers find a third team to dump Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract to make that happen.
The Lakers could ultimately decide to move on from their interest in Kuminga, who, in his current best-case scenario, would be hoping that LeBron James does not go to the Cavaliers, who will reportedly pivot to him if that happens.
According to NBA reporter Jake Weinbach, the Lakers are expected to be interested in P.J. Washington if they fail to land Kuminga. But NBA insider Marc Stein has previously indicated that the Lakers view Washington’s contract as an albatross.
But while that may be the reason they preferred Kuminga over Washington, they may ultimately trade for Washington if Doncic insists on needing a solid power forward over Jake LaRavia or Sandro Mamukelashvili on their roster.
Their reported pitch to Jonathan Kuminga involved being an immediate starter. Therefore, it is clear that the Lakers are not happy with who they have currently and could look for a change ultimately. There is still a lot of uncertainty over who will replace LeBron James in the starting lineup.
A veteran name like Bruce Brown has also come up as a potential replacement for LeBron James on the starting lineup if their pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga fails.
Hence, this shows that the Hawks’ trade for Lu Dort has extremely complicated the Lakers’ pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga and has put them in an even tougher spot to find a starting power forward.
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