The Los Angeles Lakers received bad news on the eve of the 2025 NBA Draft as one of the centers they were targeting was traded to another team.
Their arch-rival Boston Celtics traded former All-Star center Kristaps Porziņģis to the Atlanta Hawks in a stunning three-team trade with the Brooklyn Nets, as ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania first reported.
The deal includes Boston’s least favorable second-round pick in 2026 going to Atlanta, while Boston received Georges Niang and a second-round pick in 2031 via Cleveland, per Hoopshype’s Michael Scotto. Brooklyn gets Terance Mann and Atlanta’s No. 22 pick in this year’s draft.
The Lakers were one of the few of the 10-12 teams that had been in contact with the Celtics on Porzingis and others, according to Brett Seigel of ClutchPoints, before the Latvian center went to Atlanta in the three-team trade.
One center less on the Lakers’ trade board.
Lakers Dodge a Bullet?
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesBoston Celtics traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks on the eve of the 2025 NBA Draft.
The 29-year-old Porziņģis would have been a starter on the Lakers and get reunited with his former Dallas Mavericks running mate Luka Dončić. But with Porziņģis in Atlanta now, the Lakers move on to their other targets and just look at it like they have dodged a bullet.
Porziņģis’ lengthy injury history — from assortment of lower body injuries to respiratory illness — has marred his NBA career.
During the Celtics’ abbreviated playoff run, Porziņģis dealt with a mysterious respiratory illness that rendered him ineffective. His numbers dipped to a horrendous 4.2 points on 24% shooting across Boston’s six-game loss to New York in the second round of the playoffs. The respiratory illness limited him to only 15.5 minutes of playing time per game in the series.
3 More Centers on Lakers’ Radar
Aside from Porziņģis, the Lakers also held trade conversations on three more centers available on the market, according to Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints.
“Sources close to the team reiterated that the internal plan is to trade for their starting center – sources say they’ve held conversations with other teams about Nic Claxton, Robert Williams, Walker Kessler and others – then, ideally, use the taxpayer midlevel on his backup – Brook Lopez and Clint Capela are the two names most often linked to the Lakers,” Irwin wrote.
“It’s a solid plan that they’re considered likely to be able to execute. But, because of their clear and desperate need at the position, such an approach is going to be a lot more complicated than it would’ve been had they not neglected the position the past couple of seasons.”
Claxton, Williams and Kessler have been linked to the Lakers since last year, even before they acquired Dončić for Anthony Davis, who wanted to play next to a center. But they are not as under pressure as before.
The Porziņģis trade may have also sealed the fate of Capela, who is now unlikely to return to Atlanta.
The Lakers will at least have the $5.7 million taxpayer midlevel exception, depending on what LeBron James do with his player option, to use on signing a backup center like Capela.
If James opts out of his $52.6 million player option and takes less money on a new deal, the Lakers can have access to the $14.1 million non-taxpayer MLE that could be enough to land Lopez.
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