Lakers rumors: The player LA ‘just wants to be rid of’ after Jonathan Kuminga trade fail

The Los Angeles Lakers have had an extremely eventful offseason after LeBron James’ decision to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Lakers were hoping to round off their resultant spending spree by adding Jonathan Kuminga in free agency.

However, after having failed in their pursuit, Los Angeles is now understood to be looking to move another player in the opposite direction, in the form of Jaden Hardy. Drafted in 2022 as the No. 37 pick by the Dallas Mavericks, the Lakers’ ‘dream scenario’ was sending Hardy to another team in the Kuminga deal, per Heavy’s Sean Deveney.

However, as that did not work out, the franchise now just wants to be ‘rid of him.’ How that will happen remains to be seen, with Hardy initially coming in as part of the DeAndre Ayton deal in July.

While the Lakers have lost out on Kuminga, its after-effects are evidently still being felt. The former Golden State Warriors man agreed to a two-year, $13 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves despite the Lakers being viewed as the favorites for considerable time.

The Lakers, needing frontcourt help after losing LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, and Jaxson Hayes and trading away DeAndre Ayton, aggressively pursued Kuminga and reportedly upped their offer to a three-year deal worth roughly $36 million (about $12 million annually). However, JK turned it down, choosing Minnesota’s less lucrative offer as it guaranteed him a starting role alongside Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert,

Further, Kuminga has a player option for the second year, which gives him the option of becoming a free agent once again in order to fish for a bigger contract. The brand-new Minnesota star did something similar last year with the Warriors before eventually being traded to the Atlanta Hawks.

Regardless, as things stand, the Lakers are likely to look for ways to offload Hardy.

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