{"id":132460,"date":"2025-06-28T21:32:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T21:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/132460\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T21:32:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T21:32:26","slug":"lakers-contact-6-foot-10-forward-in-trade-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/132460\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Contact 6-Foot-10 Forward in Trade Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers Contact 6-Foot-10 Forward in Trade Report<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers enter the NBA offseason with plenty of questions after a disappointing first-round playoff exit. Despite acquiring Luka Doncic in February to pair with LeBron James, the team fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves, ending the season earlier than expected.<\/p>\n

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Now with James turning 40 and entering his 23rd NBA season, the Lakers know their championship window is closing. Management is reportedly determined to build a stronger roster around their aging superstar.<\/p>\n

One area that clearly needs improvement is the center position. The Lakers struggled to find consistency at that spot throughout the 2024-25 season, and their search for an upgrade continues into the summer.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin,<\/a> Los Angeles was actively pursuing help at the position and even reached out to the Atlanta Hawks about a potential trade for big man Onyeka Okongwu.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers called the Atlanta Hawks about their 6-10, athletic big man Onyeka Okongwu last season,\u201d McMenamin reported.”<\/p>\n

Okongwu, a 24-year-old USC product, was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He’s appeared in 307 regular-season games for Atlanta and posted career-best numbers last season with 13.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game over 74 contests.<\/p>\n

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His youth, athleticism, and upside make him a compelling trade target for a Lakers team seeking more energy and rim protection in the paint.<\/p>\n

Team executive Rob Pelinka, who serves as both general manager and president of basketball operations, acknowledged the volatility expected this summer around the league:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is going to be a lot of movement around the NBA. It just feels that way. There are so many aggressive leaders and organizations expecting success now. So I think there will be a lot of opportunities for us to look at. I really do. I\u2019m excited about the offseason and what will come our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Onyeka<\/p>\n

Onyeka Okongwu of the Atlanta Hawks has been on the Los Angeles Lakers’ radar.Imagn<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 core of James, Doncic, and Austin Reaves will probably remain intact, but much of the rest of the roster remains uncertain. First-year head coach JJ Redick appeared to lose confidence in his center rotation late in the season, further highlighting the need for frontcourt reinforcements.<\/p>\n

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As the Lakers look to retool on the fly and give LeBron one more shot at the finals, expect trade rumors and roster reshuffling to dominate their summer storyline.<\/p>\n

Related: Donovan Mitchell Sends Clear LeBron James Message on Friday<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Pacers Prepare for Expensive Roster Move After NBA Finals Loss<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers Contact 6-Foot-10 Forward in Trade Report originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Los Angeles Lakers enter the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,1013,7,8095,677,185,251,150,368,152,6,493],"class_list":{"0":"post-132460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-austin-reaves","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-dave-mcmenamin","14":"tag-hawks","15":"tag-lebron-james","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","18":"tag-luka-doncic","19":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-onyeka-okongwu"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114763133497660829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}