NBA Insider ‘Wouldn’t Rule Out’ Jonas Valanciunas Ending Up On Lakers Next Season

NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN “wouldn’t rule out” Jonas Valanciunas ending up on the Los Angeles Lakers next season. 

Valanciunas signed a three-year, $30.3 million contract with the Washington Wizards this offseason as part of a sign-and-trade deal with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Brian Windhorst: ‘I wouldn’t rule out Jonas Valanciunas eventually ending up on the Lakers’ https://t.co/KbsudRWFNO

— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) July 21, 2024

The Lakers were interested in signing Valanciunas this offseason but the big man joined the Wizards instead.

Los Angeles hasn’t made any moves this offseason via trades or free agency. 

Valanciunas averaged 12.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.8 blocks in 2023-24 for the Pelicans while shooting 55.9% from the field, 30.8% from beyond the arc and 78.5% from the free-throw line. He had 33 double-doubles. 

The 32-year-old Valanciunas has career averages of 13.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.4 blocks and 1.0 blocks with the Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies and Pelicans. 

During an interview with NBA reporter Dave McMenamin of ESPN, LeBron James spoke about the Lakers missing out on Valanciunas, Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan.

Thompson joined the Dallas Mavericks, while DeRozan signed with the Sacramento Kings.

The Lakers heavily pursued Thompson, who was recruited by LeBron.

“It takes two to tango,” LeBron told ESPN. “I think our front office, our coaching staff, they tried to do the job that they wanted to do or tried to get guys to come and it didn’t happen. And that’s OK. That’s part of the business. I’ve been in this business long enough to know that sometimes it happens, sometimes it don’t.

“So we don’t sit here and lie about or cry about it. We move on and Klay’s a great player. Obviously DeMar’s a great player. Valanciunas was one of those guys who ended up going to Washington, was someone that was in talks with us, but we move on to see how we continue to get better.”

The Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 playoffs in five games.

Denver also beat Los Angeles in the 2023 Western Conference Finals in four games. 

The Lakers fired Darvin Ham as head coach and hired former NBA guard JJ Redick, who was podcast partners with LeBron.