NBA free agency 2026 live updates: LeBron rumors keep bubbling; Lakers trading Deandre Ayton to Wizards

The Lakers played their cap-room hand by going all in on Walker Kessler, using all their draft capital to acquire the one player whose rim protection might offset the fact that the team employs Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić on the perimeter. The Lakers paid a pretty penny, both in terms of contract and assets, and basically left themselves with no means of following up with added moves to improve a roster that seems badly wanting for some in-season work.

I would have liked the Kessler sign-and-trade much more if they had put Jarred Vanderbilt into the deal and left themselves some real flexibility to build out a roster. Utah’s cap situation shouldn’t have made that a deal-breaker.

That said, that’s not why I’m calling the Lakers losers. The real reason is a much simpler one: the uncompensated loss of LeBron James.

Reminder: He’s still really good. And pretty durable, too. You’re not offsetting that by getting a 3-and-D guy and a backup point guard in free agency. It’s easy to see how the Lakers might have made themselves a juggernaut if they kept LeBron James at a salary in the mid-20 millions and added Kessler at the same time, but that’s not what happened.

L.A.’s other moves are less important in the grand scheme. Sandro Mamukelashvili isn’t a starting power forward and is another bad defender, but his shooting and handle would be very useful as a third big. Quentin Grimes checked a 3-and-D box that wasn’t plentiful in this year’s market, and that was the one the Lakers had to get. Collin Sexton is probably the most questionable signing fit-wise, as he’s an energetic but hugely mistake-prone and undersized defender, and an on-ball scorer who won’t have the ball much on this team.

The Lakers likely should have chased John Collins or Tobias Harris to get a real starting four, even if that cost them Mamukelashvili or forced them to get funky on the edges (stretching Vanderbilt or Dalton Knecht). They could have brought back Rui Hachimura or chased Kelly Oubre Jr. with the room exception instead of signing Sexton.

But again, the Lakers were limited by what was available in this market and their own multitude of needs. What I suggested still would have left glaring holes on the roster.

There was just too much to fix on this roster in one free-agency cycle, and the Lakers tried to checkmate in one move. I get that they’re on the clock with Dončić, and they’ll win a bunch of regular-season games as long as he, Kessler and Reaves can play 65-70 of them. But the overarching takeaway was that it all felt a bit like Phoenix West.