The Lakers still want Jonathan Kuminga. The Hawks still want a haul. That standoff is exactly where the summer’s most obvious sign-and-trade has landed.
Per Dan Woike of The Athletic, talks between Los Angeles and Atlanta have stalled. The Lakers are not willing to hand over meaningful draft capital, and the Hawks are not budging on the ask. Everyone assumed this deal was inevitable. Nobody wanted to say it might not happen.
Kuminga is 23. He’s a 6-foot-7 forward with real athletic tools and a scoring package that looked promising two seasons ago. Then Atlanta declined his $24.3 million team option earlier this month and made him unrestricted. That was supposed to open the door for the Lakers. Instead it opened a bidding war the Lakers do not want to enter.
The market for Kuminga is thinner than his camp probably hoped. Cleveland has been floated as an interested party, but no offer has moved. Nobody is racing to give him the money he wants. His numbers with the Hawks last year were fine and nothing more: 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Here’s the tension. Kuminga still has upside. He’s young, he’s long, and he fits what a modern wing rotation needs. But upside is not a $30 million cap number, and it’s not multiple first-round picks in a trade package.
Why the Lakers Are Playing It Cool
Rob Pelinka has been in this seat before. The Lakers cannot keep gutting their draft cabinet every time an interesting name pops up. They already surrendered a war chest to build the current core. What they have left has to matter.
Kuminga is a bet on development. Development bets do not usually justify multiple firsts. The Lakers know that. The Hawks know the Lakers know that. So the two sides sit and wait.
The other read here is that Kuminga’s own salary demands have not aligned with what LA is willing to guarantee. This has been the case for weeks. Reports earlier this summer already flagged the gap between the offer and the ask.
What Happens Next
One of three things breaks the ice. Kuminga blinks and takes a smaller number. The Hawks blink and drop their asking price. Or a third team enters and forces Atlanta to move fast.
Cleveland is the wild card. If the Cavs get serious, the Hawks suddenly have leverage they lacked. Then this becomes a real auction. Right now it’s a staring contest.
For Lakers fans banking on Kuminga solving the wing depth problem, the message from The Athletic report is simple. Pump the brakes. This is not close. And unless something moves in the next two weeks, camp opens with Kuminga still in limbo and LA still hunting for a forward.
The offseason keeps reminding everyone that the Lakers do not run this league anymore. They run a checking account with limits.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
