Lakers Face Frontcourt Challenge After Kuminga Departure
The Los Angeles Lakers have spent the summer ripping up the blueprint and starting again.
Every starter from last season’s first-round playoff exit is gone. In their place: a wave of younger legs and fresh free agents, all brought in with one clear idea — build a deeper, more dynamic roster around Luka Doncic. The intent is bold. The execution is still a work in progress.
And their latest miss has left a noticeable dent.
Kuminga Slip Leaves a Frontcourt Void
Jonathan Kuminga was supposed to be one of the answers. Instead, he’s headed to the Minnesota Timberwolves on a two-year deal, and the fallout in Los Angeles is real.
“The Lakers’ failed pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga, who is signing a two-year deal with the Timberwolves, has left them with a hole in the frontcourt,” Lakers reporter Khobi Price wrote for the California Post.
The numbers tighten the squeeze. With their payroll just $8.1 million below the NBA’s $209 million first-apron threshold, the Lakers are hard-capped for the 2026-27 season. They already have 16 players on guaranteed contracts. That’s not just a crowded locker room — it’s a roster gridlock.
Price put it plainly: the options for more additions are limited, but the needs are not. Training camp is a month away. The clock is loud.
So what now?
The open market is thin. The trade market is worse. The Lakers’ few tradeable assets don’t exactly scream “bring us a starting-caliber difference-maker.” Which is why one familiar name keeps getting dragged back into the conversation.
P.J. Washington: Fit on the Floor, Problem on the Books
For the second straight offseason, P.J. Washington’s name hovers over the Lakers like a question they don’t really want to answer.
On paper, the connection makes sense. Washington was one of Doncic’s better running mates with the Dallas Mavericks, a forward who can space the floor, defend multiple positions, and slide into lineups without demanding touches. Chemistry with a franchise star is hard to find; Washington already has it.
But according to Lakers reporter Jacob Rude, that hasn’t moved the needle in Los Angeles.
“Off the bat, we’re starting with a player the Lakers have repeatedly said they have no interest in, if that gives you a sense of how dry the market is,” Rude wrote in a fan mailbag, capturing the mood around the league.
After the Lakers’ early free agency splurge, many outside the building pointed at Washington as a logical fix for the hole in the starting lineup. The front office pushed back. Multiple reports underlined the same point: the Lakers had no interest in Washington because of his contract.
That’s the sticking point. Not the player. The paper.
Washington is owed a fully guaranteed $88.8 million over the next four years — nearly $90 million committed to a non-star forward at a time when the Lakers are already brushing up against the apron and staring at a hard cap down the line.
“The Lakers have long been tied to trade rumors involving Mavericks forward P.J. Washington, a former teammate of (Luka) Doncic’s in Dallas, but as The Post previously reported, the fully guaranteed $88.8 million Washington is owed over the next four years isn’t appealing to the Lakers.”
Fit versus flexibility. At the moment, flexibility is winning.
Waiting Game at the Deadline?
That doesn’t mean the door is bolted shut forever.
If Washington isn’t an option now, could he become one when the season settles in and the trade deadline looms? That’s where the dynamics shift. That’s where pressure moves from buyer to seller.
Dallas sits on a frontcourt that has cost them north of $300 million, with Washington and Daniel Gafford anchoring a big chunk of that investment. Behind them, younger players are pushing up the depth chart and, eventually, toward their own big paydays. Something will have to give.
“I think Dallas could really stand to benefit from both P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford playing their way into greater trade value this season,” NBA insider Jake Fischer reported, adding, “I haven’t heard of any team targeting P.J. Washington for sometime. Daniel Gafford has had far more trade interest, to my understanding.”
So Washington is expensive and, for now, not heavily pursued. That’s bad news for Dallas in the short term. It could be intriguing news for a team like the Lakers later on.
If the Mavericks can’t drum up a market and Washington’s value doesn’t spike, their asking price may soften. The calculus changes if they decide that future cap flexibility and minutes for younger bigs matter more than squeezing every last asset out of a trade.
That’s where the Lakers could re-enter the frame. If their frontcourt still looks thin, if the internal options don’t convince, and if the organization is willing to swallow a big number on the books to patch a glaring need, Washington’s name will resurface.
Right now, he’s a luxury they don’t want to pay for.
By midseason, he might look more like a necessity they can’t afford to ignore.
