The Lakers’ roster overhaul this summer brought many unlikely or unfamiliar faces to Los Angeles in a flurry.
But before their free agent frenzy, which included big deals to Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, and Collin Sexton, they made a call for a more well-known name.
On Friday’s episode of “The Zach Lowe Show,” Dan Woike of The Athletic reported that the Lakers called the Timberwolves about Naz Reid, but never really entered serious negotiations.
“The Lakers were very interested in finding
an offensive-minded four this summer. They called on Naz Reid early on. They didn’t make what I would consider to be, like, a very serious offer for Naz Reid. But they called and checked in. I think he was one of the players [where] they identified teams that had some salary pressure points. Like maybe there was a way you could get a guy for 75 cents [on the dollar]…That was a player that they looked at. I think, again, didn’t really put a real offer on the table for him but if Minnesota was in a sell-off, they were willing to say ‘Hey, maybe we can save you some money here.’”
Reid eventually was part of the trade package that Minnesota sent out for LaMelo Ball, so he was at least available. Clearly, he wasn’t untouchable, but instead of unloading him for cap relief, they traded him to bring in a star and reorient their own roster.
Some of the appeal this summer was that the Lakers could use their cap space to absorb bad contracts or help teams out of precarious cap situations. They didn’t end up going that route, opting to use up that cap space almost entirely on free agency.
Just because they didn’t make any trades, though, doesn’t mean they didn’t explore the possibility. Reid would have been a fantastic offensive fit. He’s been one of the best offensive bigs in the league for a while, highlighted by his Sixth Man of the Year award in 2024 and his routine top-five finish in voting since.
But LA had limited assets outside of cap space, and they prioritized using them to acquire a center in Walker Kessler. After that, they did not have much left to be able to use on a player like Reid in a trade, so they instead went the free agency route.
Still, it’s encouraging and interesting to look at the potential other routes they could have gone down this summer.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
