Why Jonathan Kuminga Isn't Lakers' Missing Piece on New Roster amid NBA Trade Rumors

The Los Angeles Lakers are aiming to put a bow on an eventful and expensive 2026 NBA offseason.

Their intention, which revolves around acquiring free agent swingman Jonathan Kuminga, lands somewhere between blindly optimistic and simply misguided.

Per The Stein Line's Jake Fischer, the Lakers "would still like to sign Kuminga and make him their starting small forward ... provided that the 23-year-old is ultimately willing to accept a contract structure on the Lakers' terms."

While they're at least showing enough foresight to not just hand over a blank check to the bouncy forward, they also seem stuck on the idea that he can help complete their roster puzzle.

He can't.

His physical tools admittedly sound intriguing. He is a 6'7", 225-pounder who ranks as one of the Association's more explosive athletes. Sprinkle in his downhill scoring ability and flashes of shot-creation, and you can see why the Lakers want to believe in him.

Still, the gap between the idea of what Kuminga could be and the reality of the player he is seems about as wide as you'd see in a tools-first draft prospect. But he'll turn 24 in October, a couple of weeks before his sixth NBA campaign starts.

While that doesn't mean he has definitely reached the end of his developmental curve, it does suggest that his strengths and weaknesses are pretty clearly defined. And once you line them up next to L.A.'s list of needs, you're left staring at a pile of square pegs that can't get crammed into those round holes.

For starters, Kuminga isn't a small forward. And, yes, there is still a distinction between the 3 and 4 spots even with position labels becoming as fluid as ever. Small forwards just have a level of perimeter skills that Kuminga has yet to consistently showcase, which helps explain why he's only spent five percent of his career minutes at the 3, per Basketball-Reference.com.

L.A. also needs a good amount of shooting from its support players to help properly space the floor for Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. Kuminga is a career 33.2 percent shooter from range, and the next time he averages more than one three-pointer per game will be the first.

With the Lakers running so much offense through their guards, they need their frontcourt players to be play-finishers. Kuminga likes to dabble in self-creation, which sounds exciting, except he's not effective enough in that capacity to make it a regular part of his offensive menu.

Over the past two seasons, fewer than 50 percent of his made two-pointers have been assisted. And, remember, he spent most of that time slotting alongside an elite gravitational force in Stephen Curry. Kuminga should be an electric off-ball cutter, but he is clearly more comfortable pounding the ball into the floor to find his own looks.

Realistically, how often would L.A. be carving out possessions for Kuminga to create? Because giving him the ball would require taking it away from Dončić and Reaves first. That just isn't happening.

The Lakers would need Kuminga to embrace the dirty-work duties—screening, hard cutting, consistently defending at a high level, rebounding—in ways he never consistently did for the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks. Why would L.A. believe that switch would suddenly get flipped by someone with more than 6,500 regular-season minutes already under his belt?

It would be, at the very least, a massive gamble on Kuminga effectively changing his identity. It probably wouldn't be particularly cheap either, since he is clearly looking for more than L.A. has offered so far, and he'd likely cost an additional asset or two, as a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks might be required to make this happen.

The Lakers are correct in feeling like their roster still needs more, but their focus appears misguided. Rather than Kuminga himself, they need a true wing who actually does all of the things they imagine his idealized version doing.