{"id":30390,"date":"2025-07-01T17:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/30390\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:18:10","slug":"lakers-rumors-dfs-ayton-lebron-wiggins-laravia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/30390\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Rumors: DFS, Ayton, LeBron, Wiggins, LaRavia"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a><\/strong> turned down his $15.4MM player option for the 2025\/26 season, the Lakers<\/strong> offered him a new contract, but it only covered two seasons, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic<\/a>. The veteran forward instead agreed to<\/a> a four-year, $53MM deal with Houston.<\/p>\n

As Woike explains, the Lakers want to maintain as much future cap flexibility as they can in order to be able to pursue a star-level player to pair with Luka Doncic<\/a><\/strong> following LeBron James<\/a><\/strong>\u2018 eventual retirement.<\/p>\n

That point has also been made by ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin<\/a>, who writes that the Lakers want to preserve 2027 cap room in the hopes of landing a maximum-salary player, and by Shams Charania, who discussed the subject on SportsCenter late on Monday night (Twitter video link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are really prioritizing two-year contracts right now,\u201d Charania said. \u201cThey want to have max-salary space in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

How that stance affects the Lakers\u2019 search for a center remains to be seen. While Brook Lopez<\/a><\/strong> committed to the Clippers on Monday and Clint Capela<\/a><\/strong> agreed to a deal with Houston, it\u2019s Deandre Ayton<\/a><\/strong> who has been the team\u2019s top priority, according to Woike, who points out that Ayton and Doncic share the same agent (Bill Duffy<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

It sounds like the Lakers are unlikely to offer more than two years to Ayton, so if there\u2019s a rival suitor willing to put a longer deal on the table, that could be problematic for Los Angeles. However, I\u2019d be a little surprised if that\u2019s the case after his time in Portland ended via buyout.<\/p>\n

Woike points to the Bucks<\/strong> as one team to watch for Ayton, noting that they should have access to most of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and lost their starting center (Lopez) on Monday.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Lakers:<\/p>\n