Overview
- The Kuminga pursuit remained stalled as of Monday, Aug. 10, with no sign-and-trade agreement reported between the Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks and no team able to meet all sides’ salary and term demands.
- Kuminga has sought more than about $20 million per year and prefers a sign-and-trade, but Atlanta kept his Bird rights when it declined his option, forcing any suitor to offer a multi‑year deal and matched outgoing salary.
- The Lakers have little flexibility: they entered the offseason with 16 guaranteed contracts and sparse tradable draft assets, which makes it hard to send Atlanta the salary space or draft compensation the Hawks want.
- Cleveland and Minnesota are active suitors and multiple media outlets published three‑ and four‑team trade blueprints this week as theoretical ways to move salary and satisfy Atlanta, but those proposals remain speculative.
- The stalemate is pressuring the Lakers to consider veterans such as Klay Thompson and is keeping young players like Dalton Knecht in limbo, since Knecht appears in several proposed packages and critics say the Lakers’ roster moves have hurt his development.