The Los Angeles Lakers have continued potential for activity this offseason, particularly with LeBron James on an expiring contract and sending less than enigmatic signals to the front office that he wants to see some significant roster movement ahead of next season.
However, should the Lakers actually make another meaningful deal this summer, it’s just as likely that James himself is on the move as it is that L.A. brings in another talented player via trade or free agency to join him and Luka Doncic.
The Lakers have made no secret of their intentions to build around Doncic for the longterm, which means keeping as much flexibility in the summers of 2026 and 2027 as possible. That strategy is in direct contradiction to what James wants, as he enters his 23rd year in the NBA and his age-41 campaign in 2025-26.
One player analysts have tied to the Lakers in potential trades, many of which did not include James departing Southern California, is Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins. However, Dan Woike of The Athletic doused that notion with all kinds of cold water during his appearance on the Monday, July 14 edition of “The Zach Lowe Show” podcast via The Ringer network.
“The Lakers have, I guess, sniffed around Wiggins,” Lowe said.
“They’re not interested in Andrew Wiggins,” Woike responded. “I think I can put that to bed. I’m pretty confident on that front.”
Andrew Wiggins Proven NBA Champion With Warriors in 2021-2022 Season
Getty Andrew Wiggins of the Miami Heat.
Wiggins could make plenty of sense in L.A. alongside Doncic, at least in a vacuum.
He averaged 18.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks across 60 games played (30.7 minutes per night) for the Golden State Warriors and Heat last season. Wiggins — who will play next year at the age of 30 — also rediscovered his 3-point shot, hitting 37.4% of his 5.8 attempts per contest.
Wiggins was a key piece to the Warriors’ championship run in 2021-22, providing key rebounding and perimeter defense down the stretch of the playoffs, particularly against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
The issues, however, are two-fold. The first, and less important of the two, is that Wiggins has two years remaining on his contract.
That technically means that beyond costing the Lakers $28.2 million this season, which wouldn’t be the issue, Wiggins would also be under contract for nearly $30.2 million in 2026-27 if he decided to exercise the player option on the final year of his $109 million contract.
Even if he chose to do that, the Lakers would have a $30 million trade chip in the form of Wiggins, so the their team-building endeavors around Doncic wouldn’t necessarily be hampered. In fact, having Wiggins’ contract to trade might actually provide the team with more options, as free agency isn’t the medium of elite player movement in the NBA that it used to be — with trades becoming the more frequent avenue in that regard over recent years.
Heat Asking too Much for Andrew Wiggins for Lakers to Make Trade
GettyAndrew Wiggins of the Miami Heat.
The bigger issue for Los Angeles in terms of a Wiggins deal is what the Heat want back in return.
“I didn’t understand … those rumors,” Lowe continued of the Lakers’ reported interest in Wiggins. “Like, they were suddenly giving up a lot of [expletive] for Andrew Wiggins. It’s like, [isn’t] Rui Hachimura just as good as Andrew Wiggins? Why am I adding a lot more to that?”
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reported on July 12 that the Heat remain high on Wiggins and aren’t likely willing to part with him in the first place.
“During an interview at summer league practice in Vegas, [Miami head coach] Erik Spoelstra says Andrew Wiggins is already back in South Florida and views him as an important piece of the Heat’s rotation next season,” Chiang wrote reported via X. “The expectation is the Heat will move forward with Andrew Wiggins on its roster for the start of next season. The Heat wants to see what this mix will look like.”
Whether that was a negotiation tactic, true position or simply hedging on the part of Spoelstra isn’t clear. But according to Woike, it doesn’t really matter now — at least not with regard to the Lakers, who have moved on to other pursuits.
