With LeBron James now certainly gone for next season, the Lakers can operate a bit more openly in free agency in terms of building a championship-contending roster around Luka Doncic and his needs.
But alongside James, the Lakers are also expected to lose Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, and Rui Hachimura in free agency, so the Lakers are almost certainly going to look like a whole new team with only a few familiar faces.
Amid the rumors of looking at multiple sharpshooters and lob threats to join Luka Doncic, the Lakers have reportedly acquired Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili in free agency. Or have at least managed to give the rest of the league the impression of doing so.
According to NBA insider Jake L. Fischer, teams around the league are no longer approaching Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili under the assumption that the Lakers have agreed to deals with both players. Fischer recently appeared on the ‘You Know Ball with TrillBroDude’ podcast, where he spoke about the Lakers’ spending power being a looming factor over free agency.
“The whole league is operating as if Mamu and Quentin Grimes are done [for the Lakers]. But even if both those guys get X amount, they still have a lot of spending power,” said Fischer while talking about the Lakers’ freed up cap space as a result of LeBron James confirming his Lakers exit.
“The growing anticipation league-wide is that the Lakers ultimately secure commitments on new contracts from Toronto free agent Sandro Mamukelashvili and Philadelphia free agent Quentin Grimes while still pursuing their top summer target: Utah restricted free agent Walker Kessler,” wrote the NBA insider Marc Stein on X to confirm this information.
The Lakers needed a sharpshooting guard to replace Kennard and have landed a solid replacement in Grimes if these rumors are true. A 36.6% shooter from beyond the arc for his career, the 26-year-old ended the 2025-26 season averaging 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists while going 45.0% from the field.
Sandro Mamukelashvili finished the 2025-26 season averaging 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists while going 52.3% from the field and 38.9% from behind the three-point line.
The 27-year-old former Raptors player can be seen as a replacement for Rui Hachimura. Brian Windhorst of ESPN also confirmed this perception.
The 6’9 wing is also a career 36.6% shooter from beyond the arc (like Grimes), so the Lakers are certainly looking to maintain the same floor spacing threat that they had.
With the extensive cap space the Lakers have freed up, they are also looking at multiple other targets. They took meetings with Walker Kessler and Jalen Duren and are also in the mix for Tobias Harris and Dean Wade.
“The wing spot is obviously being vacated by LeBron James. A couple of unrestricted free agents that the Lakers have mulled over internally are Tobias Harris from the Detroit Pistons, Quentin Grimes of the Philadelphia 76ers, who was a teammate of Luka’s in Dallas in the past, and also Dean Wade of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” said McMenamin, while also confirming the Lakers’ interest in Grimes shortly before Fischer’s claims.
“The two A-lister big men who are in the market are restricted free agents. Jalen Duren and Walker Kessler,” Dave McMenamin said on SportsCenter about the Lakers’ confirmed free agency targets.
Several hours have passed since free agency officially began, and we should be hearing the official confirmation of these rumors any time now. It will be interesting to see what roles these two players are used for on the roster in the upcoming 2026-27 season.
