The Los Angeles Lakers may have missed out on everyone in free agency except for former players LeBron James and Max Christie. But it appears the search for at least one big-name player on the market isn’t exactly over this summer.
Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka could at some point look to bring in more top-tier defensive help on the frontcourt, according to one expert.
Former New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas, a solid rebounder and defender who theoretically could have allowed the Lakers to play All-NBA center/power forward Anthony Davis more at No. 4, opted to join former 2020 Los Angeles champion Kyle Kuzma at the lowly Washington Wizards rather than sign with the Lakers, among other interested parties.
The 6-foot-2 big man is still on a reasonable three-year, $30.3 million contract. Last year with New Orleans, the Lithuanian big man appeared in all 82 regular-season games for the club. He averaged 12.2 points on .559/.308/.785 shooting averages, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.8 blocks per game. Valanciunas has proven to be a solid 3-point shooter, though he wasn’t last year. Over the previous four seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies and Pelicans, from 2020-23, he made 35.7 percent of his 1.5 three-point attempts per game. Assuming he can regain that kind of floor spacing, he could really play alongside Davis, whose long-range shot has deserted him.
In a new episode of his “Buha’s Block” podcast, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha suggests the Lakers could choose to explore the possibility of re-acquiring Valanciunas at some point this season.
Valanciunas was among the free-agent options that Lakers All-Star combo forward LeBron James hoped the team would add this summer, Buha notes.
“There’s been some interest, obviously,” Buha said. “He was on LeBron’s list, so I think the Lakers will probably revisit him. But I don’t think there’s as much interest as a guy like Wendell Carter or some of these other guys that have come up. So I see him as more of a mid- to low-end trade target for them.”
Bouha isn’t the first pundit to suggest the Lakers are willing to trade for Valanciunas, even after he opted to sign with the Washington Wizards in free agency.. He is not the second either.
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