The Lakers have been chasing Jonathan Kuminga basically all offseason, but the money has been the obvious sticking point from day one. According to previous reports, they initially floated a two-year, $20.0 million offer. Kuminga wasn’t interested in that number, and his camp has reportedly been asking for something closer to $25.0 million a season. Nobody’s come close to meeting that, which honestly isn’t surprising given he averaged just 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists last season while shooting 33.3% from three.
The Nuggets have the opposite problem with Peyton Watson. They want him back badly, but matching the Thunder’s two-year, $12.0 million offer sheet for Spencer Jones already pushed them into the second apron before Watson even puts pen to paper. The Nuggets reportedly offered him five years and $70.0 million, but the 23-year-old wants a lot more after posting 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 41.1% shooting from deep. If Watson’s really looking for something in the $25.0 million range annually, Denver has no way to get there without making their already messy tax situation even worse.
That’s where this four-team framework comes in, and honestly, I think it’s the kind of chaotic, multi-team scenario that only makes sense in a summer this weird. It’s a lot to untangle, but every team walks away with something it actually needed.
Trade Details
Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Jonathan Kuminga
Atlanta Hawks Receive: Peyton Watson, Cameron Johnson, 2032 first-round pick (swap via Lakers)
Denver Nuggets Receive: Luguentz Dort, Dalton Knecht, 2029 first-round pick (via Hawks), 2031 first-round pick (via Hawks, top-20 protected), 2032 second-round pick (via Hawks)
Milwaukee Bucks Receive: Jarred Vanderbilt, Zeke Nnaji, Spencer Jones, 2033 second-round pick (via Hawks)
Kuminga signs a three-year, $48.0 million deal with the Hawks first, averaging $16.0 million a year, before landing with the Lakers. That’s well short of the $25.0 million he’s reportedly chasing, but it’s a real upgrade from that original two-year, $20.0 million offer and finally gives him something stable to build on.
Watson signs a four-year, $100.0 million contract with Denver before being routed to Atlanta. The deal starts around $23.3 million and climbs to roughly $26.7 million in the final year.
Denver moves out Watson, Cameron Johnson, Zeke Nnaji, and Spencer Jones while bringing back Luguentz Dort and Dalton Knecht, shedding a huge chunk of salary in the process. Milwaukee absorbs about $25.7 million combined between Vanderbilt, Nnaji, and Jones through their post-Giannis trade exception. Johnson is owed $23.1 million, Nnaji around $7.5 million, Jones starts near $6.0 million, and Dort is set to make $18.2 million with Knecht at $4.2 million.
The Lakers Finally Make Their Kuminga Bet
Let’s be honest, Kuminga isn’t worth $25.0 million a season right now. That’s basically the whole reason he’s still unsigned in August. He’s athletic, powerful, only 23, but he still isn’t a reliable shooter, a consistently good defender, or a sharp decision-maker. For years he’s carried himself like a guy who deserves star touches without ever really proving he can run an efficient NBA offense.
At $16.0 million a year, though, I think this becomes a much easier conversation. The Lakers don’t need Kuminga to be a main guy. Luka Doncic runs the offense, Quentin Grimes and Matisse Thybulle can eat tough perimeter matchups, and Walker Kessler anchors things defensively behind the play. What Kuminga actually needs to do is run, cut, attack closeouts, bully smaller forwards, and stop treating every game like an audition for a max deal.
I actually think that role suits him better than people expect. He got stuck at 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds last season, but he’s flashed 16.1 points a game before when Golden State gave him a bigger role with 20.8 points in the second round of the 2025 playoffs.
He finishes above the rim, draws fouls, and brings the kind of athleticism the Lakers still don’t have enough of around Doncic. It won’t be seamless, teams will sag off him early in games, but for $16.0 million, I’d call this a smart gamble.
The cost is manageable too. Vanderbilt’s a solid defender, but his offensive limitations make him tough to trust in big moments. Knecht basically lost his role entirely last year, just 4.2 points in 10.2 minutes on 34.2% from three. Moving both also clears up the Lakers’ roster logjam and hands Kuminga the real opportunity he’s been chasing.
Sure, this could still blow up if Kuminga doesn’t like playing off the ball as much as he’d accept. But the Lakers aren’t handing him $25.0 million or giving up a first-round pick to find out. They’re just turning two spare rotation pieces into a younger forward with real upside.
To me, that’s a bet worth making.
The Hawks Turn One Messy Situation Into Two More Wings
Atlanta is already one of the deepest teams in the East. Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, CJ McCollum, Onyeka Okongwu, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Corey Kispert, Buddy Hield, Aaron Wiggins, Dort… adding Watson and Johnson on top of that makes the wing rotation almost absurd.
It’s a little funny that the Hawks would be moving Dort just weeks after acquiring him, but I get the logic. Watson simply fits Atlanta’s timeline better. Dort’s 27 and could walk away as a free agent next summer without an extension before the season. Watson is 23, coming off a breakout year, and locking him into a four-year deal keeps him under team control right through his prime.
Watson put up 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 41.1% three-point shooting across 54 games, starting 40 of them. That’s real proof he’s more than just a bench spark at this point. His length, cutting, transition scoring, and weak-side rim protection would slot in beautifully next to Daniels and Johnson. Honestly, that trio switching across positions sounds like a nightmare matchup for a lot of teams.
Cam Johnson brings something different to the table. He’s a legit movement shooter who can play either forward spot, space the floor for Okongwu, and doesn’t need a heavy shot diet to be effective with 12.2 points and 43.0% from deep last year. His $23.1 million salary is pricey, but it comes off the books after this season, so Atlanta isn’t locking into another big long-term number.
They’d also pick up the right to swap first-rounders with the Lakers in 2032 as a thank-you for helping get Kuminga where he wants to go. That swap might end up meaning nothing, but I’d never bet against the Lakers looking rough six years down the line, so it’s worth having.
Committing four years and $100.0 million to Watson is a real risk, no doubt. But with the depth, defense, shooting, and future picks the Hawks already have, I think they can afford to take it. Turning Kuminga and Dort into Watson, Johnson, and a far-off swap probably makes this team better right away.
The Nuggets Pay For Their Own Financial Mistakes
This is the part that stings. The Nuggets walked into the offseason with one clear job: keep Peyton Watson without wrecking their financial flexibility. Instead, they matched Spencer Jones’ two-year, $12.0 million offer sheet and watched their projected luxury-tax bill jump from around $36.0 million to $68.0 million before even locking up Watson.
Watson had zero incentive to take that reported five-year, $70.0 million offer after the year he just had. His market got hot fast, and the Nuggets were left needing to either shed real salary or explore a sign-and-trade, with the Hawks, Bucks, and Clippers all reportedly in the mix.
With this framework, Denver loses Watson and Johnson, two genuinely important forwards, but gets Dort back as the defensive presence they desperately needed in the playoffs. No offense to Ayo Dosunmu, but they really let him score 43 points off the bench in a playoff game.
Dort only averaged 8.3 points and 3.6 rebounds last season, and his offense can be genuinely tough to watch, but he’s still one of the league’s most physical point-of-attack defenders. Slot him next to Christian Braun, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic, and Denver has another guy who can guard anybody’s best perimeter scorer every single night.
Knecht is the shooting lottery ticket here. His second season was ugly, but he averaged 9.1 points as a rookie and has shown real flashes of catching fire from three. If anyone can get a lost shooter humming again, it’s Jokic. Knecht would get a steady diet of open catch-and-shoot looks without needing to create much himself, which honestly sounds like the perfect landing spot after watching Cam Johnson go back to +40% from three in his first Nuggets season.
The draft compensation is what makes the pain worth it, in my opinion. Denver gets Atlanta’s 2029 first, another 2031 first (top-20 protected), and a 2032 second. Landing two potential first-round picks while shedding this much salary is a genuinely strong return.
And maybe most importantly, they finally get rid of Nnaji and Jones. Moving both of those deals, plus Watson’s new salary and Johnson’s $23.1 million, while only taking back Dort and Knecht, would comfortably drop Denver back under the second apron.
It’s messy asset management, sure, since they’re losing Watson largely because of their own decision to match Jones’ offer sheet in the first place. But refusing to fix a mistake just because it’s embarrassing would be even worse. Dort, Knecht, two firsts, a second, and serious financial relief is about as good as this situation can look.
The Bucks Use Their Trade Exception The Right Way
Milwaukee has no real reason to rush anything after trading Giannis Antetokounmpo. That Heat deal netted them young players, draft capital, and a $25.5 million trade exception built for exactly this kind of move.
The Bucks absorb Vanderbilt, Nnaji, and Jones without sending a single player back out. Vanderbilt could help right away as a versatile defender and rebounder, even if his contract and lack of shooting cap his upside. Nnaji is really just the toll Denver pays to get out of the second apron.
Jones is the one I actually find interesting. He averaged 6.5 points in 24.2 minutes during the playoffs and started three of Denver’s six postseason games. He’s not a future star by any means, but he’s a genuinely solid 25-year-old who defends, hits open shots, and doesn’t need the ball in his hands to contribute.
Milwaukee also picks up Atlanta’s 2033 second-round pick just for absorbing the salary. One second isn’t a huge return on its own, but they’re also walking away with Jones and a potential deadline chip in Vanderbilt. If he stays healthy and defends well, I’d expect the Bucks to flip him again for another asset before too long.
That, to me, is exactly how a team in Milwaukee’s spot should be using its financial flexibility. Don’t blow the exception on some random veteran just to scrape together 34 wins. Take on contracts from teams under pressure, collect picks, test young guys, and keep moving anything with value.
For the Lakers, this trade closes the book on the Kuminga chase. For the Hawks, it adds Watson to an already scary-deep roster. For the Nuggets, it’s an expensive but necessary admission that their cap planning went sideways. And for the Bucks, it’s one more small step in the post-Giannis rebuild.
It’s a lot of moving parts, sure. But that’s exactly why I think something like this actually has a shot this offseason.
