Peyton Watson should be the priority https://t.co/AxZhQ2p9ye— KoBron Lakers Fan 🐍🐐 (@LakersLFG) February 17, 2026

The Lakers reportedly want LeBron James to return to the team next season, per @mcten “If James wants to play a 24th season, he would be welcomed back in L.A., sources told ESPN. Pelinka declared before the start of this season that he would love it if James retired a Laker,… pic.twitter.com/9w5ofi3n3A— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 17, 2026

Jeanie Buss “sounded doubtful” regarding LeBron James’s return to LA.(@sherman4949) #LakeShow “James said Sunday he’s still unsure whether he’ll play beyond this season. Buss said she’d leave James’ future with the Lakers to James. Still, she sounded doubtful that he would… pic.twitter.com/crLpRf0zxS— 🎗NBA•Fan🎗 (@Klutch_23) February 17, 2026

The Lakers are all in on Giannis this summer. pic.twitter.com/HhsZonQ3Gd— 🦉 Vino (@VinoUncorked) February 17, 2026

Giannis Antetokounmpo Reignites Lakers Trade Rumors With Recent Comments https://t.co/ELmRddKDOG— LakerTom (@LakerTom) February 16, 2026

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

The Los Angeles Lakers stayed relatively quiet at the trade deadline this year. They made only one trade, swapping Gabe Vincent for Luke Kennard with the Atlanta Hawks, and giving them a 2032 second-round pick in the process. The biggest reason for this inaction is that the Lakers are — fairly openly — prioritizing clean books and cap space in the summer of 2026.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was hesitant to take on long-term money last offseason, and that didn’t change at the trade deadline. Kennard is on an expiring $11 million contract — similar to Vincent — which allowed Pelinka to agree to the deal without concern.

That leaves the Lakers with a projection of around $48.5 million in cap space for the summer of 2026, which is among the most in the league, according to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron:

The $48.5 million number, Gozlan lists above, includes Reaves’ $20.9 million cap hold. All signs are pointing to Reaves signing a long-term deal with L.A. this summer at a higher number than that, but that won’t affect their cap space. The Lakers have Reaves’ bird rights, meaning as long as they keep his cap hold on their books, they can sign him to upwards of a max deal while being above the salary cap.

This number also includes player options for Deandre Ayton — $8,104,000 — and Marcus Smart — $5,390,700 — which could both be off the books if they decline and L.A. chooses not to re-sign them. The Lakers would not be able to sign them to deals greater than 120% of their current salaries without using cap space.

Bronny James is on a partially-guaranteed $2,296,271 salary, meaning they could add some space by waiving him before his guarantee date of June 29, and save around $1 million.

Included in this projection are also the guaranteed salaries of Luka Doncic, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero and the Lakers’ 2026 first-round draft pick.

Of course, there are always trades the Lakers could make in June that increase this figure. But as things stand, the Lakers will have just under one max salary slot to make moves with this summer.

Top Lakers Free Agent Targets

Below are a list of the best free agents available in the offseason that the Lakers could pursue. LeBron James, an unrestricted free agent this summer, is not included in the list. But bringing him back, likely at a discount, is a possibility. The list is organized in order of the players’ 2025-26 salary.

Guards

Fred VanVleet (PO)
Norman Powell (UFA)
Lu Dort (TO)
Matisse Thybulle (UFA)
Quentin Grimes (UFA)
Ayo Dosunmu (UFA)
Jose Alvarado (UFA)

Forwards

Andrew Wiggins (PO)
Tobias Harris (UFA)
Draymond Green (PO)
Jonathan Kuminga (TO)
John Collins (UFA)
Tari Eason (RFA)
Peyton Watson (RFA)

Centers

Isaiah Hartenstein (TO)
Mitchell Robinson (UFA)
Moe Wagner (UFA)
Day’Ron Sharpe (TO)
Nick Richards (UFA)
Walker Kessler (RFA)
Sandro Mamukelashvili (PO)

That list of players is underwhelming and even more disheartening when we learn our fictional $100mill of cap space is actually less than half that amount.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Watson’s name has reportedly come up in Lakers meetings.

Buzz continues to intensify linking the Los Angeles Lakers to Denver Nuggets wing Peyton Watson.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin revealed that the Lakers have “privately discussed” potentially acquiring Watson in restricted free agency this coming summer.

Lakers have privately discussed signing Peyton Watson

McMenamin noted that the Nuggets already have a substantial amount of salary committed for 2026 — $215 million, to be exact. This might prevent Denver from matching an offer sheet for Watson, although there’s also the possibility that the Nuggets could trade Christian Braun (or others) to make fiscal room for Watson.

Might the Lakers be willing to pivot from Watson, their clear target, and acquire Braun instead? That remains to be seen, but McMenamin also mentioned five other players the Lakers could be in on.

McMenamin reported that the Lakers have internally discussed unrestricted free-agents-to-be Andrew Wiggins and Tari Eason. McMenamin also mentioned Tobias Harris, Quentin Grimes, and Dean Wade as players who “fit that profile.

Watson represents the cream of the crop, based on his age (he’ll be 24 entering the 2026-27 season), athleticism, defensive versatility, and greatly improved 3-point shot. Watson is averaging 14.9 points per game for Denver this season on 41.7 percent from downtown.

At 6-foot-8, Watson represents a potential upgrade to Rui Hachimura as a big wing who can defend four positions. Watson is bouncier than Hachimura and has more offensive upside.

It’s no secret that Los Angeles needs big, athletic wings who can defend. Luka Doncic was surrounded by these types of players in Dallas when he reached the NBA Finals in 2024.

The non-Watson targets for the Lakers this summer each have a characteristic that prevents them from checking all the boxes.

Norman Powell? Not quite tall enough to guard bigs. The same can be said for Anfernee Simons, Kevin Huerter, Bennedict Mathurin, and Grimes.

Wiggins is intriguing, but he’s already reached his ceiling as a player, whereas Luka might be able to unlock a new level that we haven’t seen from Watson, thereby increasing the Lakers’ return on investment.

Eason would really help defensively, and he’s young, but he’s limited offensively. And Tobias Harris would be decent, but he’s near the end of his career and wouldn’t necessarily be an upgrade over Hachimura.

There aren’t any wing targets that can compete with Watson, beyond a potential Lakers trade for Lu Dort. It’ll be interesting to see if Denver makes a surprising trade or two to allow for the re-signing of Watson, thereby dashing the Lakers’ plans.

I think alot will depend on how DEN performs in the playoffs. They feel they were close last year taking OKC to 7 games even with Gordon & Porter at far less than 100%. They spent a ton of money last summer to get over the hump but injuries have bit them again so far. If they get healthy and make a deep run then my guess is they’ll do what it takes to hold on to Watson instead of taking a step backwards.

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

Six and a half minutes remained in the second quarter of a dog fight between the Lakers and a shorthanded Dallas Mavericks team. With a timeout, head coach J.J. Redick calls for a switch in their defense from traditional man coverage to zone, leading to three straight stops and pushing a six-point lead to a more comfortable 13 en route to an eventual blowout win behind a triple-double from LeBron James.

LA heads into the All-Star break ranked 23rd in defense, a position that puts a clear ceiling on any hopeful contender. While it’s not a long-term solution, increased zone implementation has given the team a counter to some of the natural defensive liabilities on the roster while simplifying responsibilities.

​When you are a defense ranked in the bottom seven, you clearly need a shakeup not just with personnel but in schematics or style.

​Since playing the Raptors on January 18, the Lakers increased their zone usage to 17.6%, a number that would lead the league by a mile, as revealed in the graphic shown below during Amazon Prime’s NBA coverage.

The team’s zone is allowing stingy 0.86 points per possession and while that’s not a sustainable level of production on that end of the floor, it reveals the new look defense is having some success.

LA mainly relies on a 2-3 zone defense, featuring two perimeter players and three backside players, moving from man-to-man responsibility to defending an area of the floor.

Watch below as the Lakers settle into their 2-3 zone against the Mavs following a timeout. LA, who struggles with dribble penetration, forces the offense to keep moving the ball across the perimeter while shutting off driving lanes and eating up the clock.

It’s a protection against getting beat off the dribble, which happens frequently as the Lakers play a host of slow perimeter players, and it provides certainty about where defensive help comes from. Jaxson Hayes operates from the middle here but shifts across the floor in sync with his team.

“I feel like it gives all of us a better vision of the offense,” Hayes said postgame. “We are all a little back some more, so we all can see and communicate a little better. We’re not just hugged up on our mans. The paint is a little more crowded, so it’s harder for teams that struggle with shooting to score on it.”

The Lakers give up the highest field goal percentage at the rim at 72.4%. One way to alleviate some of the damage is to prevent teams from getting there in the first place.

The Raptors, who came in with the fourth-highest percentage of points in the paint, were held in check and flummoxed by the Lakers’ zone defense.

One of the points of the zone is to force the offense into multiple passes, creating more opportunities for indecision and mistakes. It can be especially useful for two big lineups that otherwise lack foot speed, helping them stay in front of defenders.

Watch below as Redick uses it against the Raptors with a Drew Timme and Deandre Ayton frontline, leveraging their size alongside LeBron James and Jared Vanderbilt.

Once again, as the ball swings on the perimeter, all five guys on the floor shift into their correct positions. The Lakers close out the driving lanes, fly around, and force a tough, contested step back three from Gradey Dick.

“We’ve ran it a few times a game recently,” Redick said after the Toronto win. “Sometimes it’s hard, both as a coach and as a player, when you run it, and it’s a good possession of defense, and the other team hits an off-the-dribble three, which has happened this week. One game it happened three times and it can kind of deflate you.

“But we think it could be a weapon for us tonight, we talked pregame about something that I certainly wanted to do and we wanted to do as a staff and the players were bought into it.”

A zone, no doubt, has loud weaknesses, and there’s a reason teams go to it in spurts as a change of pace. Zone busters, or high-volume 3-point shooters, also exist across the league, waiting for the open shot opportunities they create for offenses. In addition, teams running zone can give up more offensive rebounds as box out responsibilities become disoriented.

The first hurdle to get over in a defensive scheme is buy-in from the players, something Redick seems to have in this group.

“Yeah, that thing got us going,” Ayton said of the zone. “I think really just talking and communicating, getting the blood flowing, knowing who got your back out there and the coaches seeing what works here. Just seeing different coverages thrown at the team and seeing what they could throw back at us.”

This defense has provided an unexpected jolt for the Lakers and even if it has flaws, it might be enough to keep them going for the rest of the season, especially if health allows their high-powered offense to find a similar groove.

That zone will get shredded in the playoffs when faced with good teams who have time to prepare and become familiar over a 7 game series. Bad, lazy teams just try to shoot over it during the regular season because it’s the easier path.

Watching the @NBA All Star game and @TeamUSA at the Winter Olympics, it’s clear that sports — just like music and art — still has the power to bring us together, build community, and remind us of our common humanity. pic.twitter.com/GjbDrIIcCT— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 15, 2026

Wemby brought the energy from the opening tip of the NBA All-Star Game, and it proved infectious. 👏 https://t.co/SfJSjUB0gi pic.twitter.com/IB8uY1Yfqp— theScore (@theScore) February 16, 2026

Anthony Edwards Wins All-Star MVP, Leads Stars to Tourney Win – NewsLooks https://t.co/McWdHf7Rmj— Newslooksteam (@Newslooks2) February 16, 2026

This might be the greatest All Star game statline of all time wtf pic.twitter.com/vNwoM8zmRa— Robo (@RoboKnowsBall) February 16, 2026

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

If a star needs to be moved to the second unit, it should be LeBron James. Let me explain.

The Los Angeles Lakers have brought Austin Reaves off the bench during each of the five games he’s played since returning from a December calf injury. Debates have thus raged, undoubtedly fueled by Rich Paul’s controversial comments, about whether or not Reaves should continue playing as the team’s sixth man.

There’s merit to the belief that the trio of Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Reaves can’t ideally coexist in the starting lineup, but it’s not Reaves who should become the sixth man if all else fails. It’s James.

Paul, whose Klutch Sports agency represents Lakers players Bronny James, LeBron James, and Jarred Vanderbilt, has publicly called for a change in Reaves’ role with the team. He’s suggested both a move to the second unit and that Los Angeles should trade him for Jaren Jackson Jr., who has since been moved to the Utah Jazz.

Though a teammate’s agent publicly calling for a benching and a trade will always be optically questionable, there was a rational line of thinking involved.

The three-man lineup of Doncic, James, and Reaves ranks in the 27th percentile in defensive rating in 2025-26 and finished in the 14th percentile in 2024-25. Injuries have disrupted their opportunities to develop chemistry, but the signs up to this stage are that the Lakers will struggle to defeat true contenders in the playoffs with all three in the starting lineup.

Though it may be blasphemous to suggest, there’s only one rational decision if the time comes to move one of the three players to the second unit: Bench James.

If Lakers must bench a star, it can’t be one who fits the long-term vision

In a perfect world, the Lakers’ star trio would figure things out on the defensive end of the floor and put these concerns to rest. In a world where past events continue, however, Los Angeles would have a hard time justifying the continued use of Reaves as a sixth man.

There’s no way around how Reaves playing as the sixth man has helped the Lakers create a more balanced rotation on both ends of the floor, but there’s a future factor to consider.

At some point in the near future, James will either have retired or joined a new team. That future may be as soon as the end of the 2025-26 season, when his current contract expires—one that the Lakers infamously refused to extend or renegotiate.

With a seemingly clear intention to move on from James this coming summer, benching the player they actually intend to re-sign would be a baffling decision.

Austin Reaves’ free agency, LeBron’s uncertain future must be factored in
Once James has moved on, whether through free agency or retirement, Doncic and Reaves will be the star duo the Lakers build around. That’s as well-known an intention as any in the NBA. Though moving Reaves to the second unit wouldn’t derail that vision, it would certainly delay it.

Reaves has a known affinity for James as both a player and teammate, but stepping aside to accommodate him when Los Angeles still needs to determine his true value would be ill-advised.

Reaves played at a star-caliber level before his calf injury and has continued to do so since returning. The sample size of games they’ve played as the definitive star duo is limited, however, and the Lakers need to figure out if they can truly excel as a leading partnership before they pay top dollar to re-sign Reaves.

Moving Reaves to the second unit and hoping he’ll excel as a starter in the postseason in 2027 just to avoid an uncomfortable conversation with James in 2026 simply wouldn’t be wise if change is truly needed.

If NBA All-Star Weekend has felt flat to you at times, you’re not alone.Saturday afternoon inside the Intuit Dome often felt more like a lecture that needed to end. pic.twitter.com/fhtiaT4ECZ— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 15, 2026

I could care less, total gimmick.