The Lakers have confirmed the signing of free agent forward Ziaire Williams to a one-year, $3 million deal. The 24-year-old forward last played for the Nets and in 2025-26 averaged 10.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals while going 42.5% from the field and 34.3% from the three-point line.
Williams is an athletic lob threat who can also space the floor, making him the perfect 3-and-D addition to the roster. Let’s take a look at how this addition has impacted the Lakers’ roster depth.
Point Guards: Luka Doncic, Collin Sexton, Bronny James
Shooting Guards: Austin Reaves, Cameron Carr, Jaden Hardy
Small Forwards: Quentin Grimes, Dalton Knecht, Ziaire Williams
Power Forwards: Jake LaRavia, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Jarred Vanderbilt, Adou Thiero
Centers: Walker Kessler, Kevon Looney
With this addition, the Lakers have filled all 15 of their roster spots for the coming season and can now only make additions through trades or two-way contracts. Williams now reunites with his high school teammate, Bronny James.
Considering that the Lakers are looking to save cap space for next summer, some might have thought this move meant the end of their pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga. But does not seem to be the case.
ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania stated that the Lakers are still in pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga while reporting the Williams news.
“Lakers reach a deal with Williams and CAA Co-Head of Basketball Aaron Mintz to address their wing depth — and LA continues to strongly pursue Jonathan Kuminga as a potential starting forward, sources tell ESPN. Williams averaged 10.2 points and 22.9 minutes for the Nets last season and enters his sixth campaign,” wrote Charania.
Subsequently, Dan Woike, the Lakers’ insider for The Athletic, also suggested that several voices inside the Lakers organization did not believe the pursuit of both players was mutually exclusive.
“There are definitely people in the Lakers organization who thought it wasn’t an either/or situation with Ziaire Williams and Jonathan Kuminga. The team has spent its summer adding youth, depth, and athleticism,” Woike wrote on X.
This addition only in effect removes the two-year, $20 million offer from Kuminga’s table. But he was anyway not inclined to accept that offer. Now the Lakers will have to figure out a way to unload Jarred Vanderbilt’s contract to a team that returns enough assets for them to convince the Hawks to do a sign-and-trade (a potential three-team deal).
While the Lakers have everything they need so far, Williams is not viewed as a replacement for Jake LaRavia in their projected starting lineup either. Whereas Kuminga can take up that role.
So it will be interesting to see if the Lakers maintain their pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga or make any other changes to the roster. But as of now, this seems to be their 15-man roster for the coming 2026-27 season.
