According to multiple reports, the Los Angeles Lakers met with free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga last Tuesday when NBA free agency officially opened and are still trying to land him. Khobi Price of the California Post reported that the Atlanta Hawks, the team Kuminga finished this past season with, are willing to do a sign-and-trade with Los Angeles to give it the 23-year-old.
But trades are never easy to consummate in the NBA, and the Lakers do have a big hole in terms of a starting two-way forward who is athletic. If they strike out on Kuminga, they need to have other options, and Price listed some potential ones, although it is unknown how realistic they are for the team.
Most of them are underwhelming, but the pickings are slim right now, especially given the ultra-restrictive qualities of the league’s current collective bargaining agreement and salary cap.
“Ziaire Williams, who’s coming off a career-year with the [Brooklyn] Nets, is a player the Lakers eyed after the Nets declined Williams’ $6.3 million team option to make him an unrestricted free agent,” Price wrote.
“Bruce Brown, Matisse Thybulle and Ochai Agbaji are other unrestricted free agents still available.”
Williams is not a good 3-point shooter, but he is 6-foot-9 and just 24 years of age, and he has a vertical leap of nearly 40 inches. He is known as a good defender, especially in terms of team defense. He averaged 10.2 points on 42.5% shooting in 22.9 minutes a game this past season.
Brown is an effective defender who can also score and handle the ball. He shot 38.5% from 3-point land this past season, and he was a key contributor when the Denver Nuggets won the NBA championship in 2023.
Thybulle, who is 29 and a seven-year veteran, has always been regarded as an effective 3-and-D wing, but he has played a total of 45 games in the last two years. Agbaji still has 3-and-D potential after four seasons in the league, but he hasn’t panned out yet.
P.J. Washington, the Dallas Mavericks‘ starting power forward, is someone Lakers fans would love for their favorite team to acquire. He’s a proven defender and a good rebounder, he has been a good 3-point shooter in the past, and while he isn’t as athletic as Kuminga, he’s no slouch in that department. He has also played with Luka Doncic in Dallas. But according to Price, L.A. may not be interested in Washington.
“The Lakers have long been tied to trade rumors with Mavericks forward PJ Washington, a former teammate of Doncic’s in Dallas, but the fully guaranteed $88.8 million Washigton’s owed over the next four years isn’t appealing to the Lakers.”
Washington put up 14.2 points and seven rebounds a game during the 2025-26 season for the rebuilding Mavericks. He will make $19.8 million this coming season.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: What are Lakers’ options at wing/forward besides Jonathan Kuminga?
