{"id":174576,"date":"2026-01-26T14:42:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=174576"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:43:08","slug":"insider-lakers-center-pursuits-big-men-will-do-backflips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/01\/26\/insider-lakers-center-pursuits-big-men-will-do-backflips\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider On Lakers’ Center Pursuits: ‘Big Men Will Do Backflips’"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Lakers still in need of 3-and-D wings, reports mention the center position as a second priority for the purple and gold. Despite the narrative that \u201cno one wants to play for the Lakers,\u201d one insider has run to the contrary, offering some hope ahead of the deadline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insider On Lakers’ Center Pursuits: ‘Big Men Will Do Backflips’<\/b><\/h2>\n

Tim MacMahon Talks Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

While appearing on Brian Windhorst\u2019s <\/span>Hoop Collective Podcast<\/span><\/a> Monday, ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon dove into the Lakers\u2019 pursuit of big men with <\/span>this encouraging sign<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have the fact they\u2019re the Los Angeles Lakers and I can just tell you, big men will do back flips to be able to be in that Lakers uniform paired with Luka. I was talking to an agent who\u2019s got a big man who may or may not be on the move and he would love to get his guy in L.A. Big men are going to want to play with Luka that much I can assure you.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Lakers hoped to surround <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> with adequate lob threats last season. After the botched <\/span>Mark Williams<\/span><\/a> trade at last year\u2019s deadline, <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a> served as a <\/span>solid solution<\/span><\/a> after his promotion to the first unit. And this summer, fans viewed <\/span>Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a> as the answer to the team\u2019s problem. But midway through this season, <\/span>concerns have now emerged<\/span><\/a> over his long-term future.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the deadline just over a week away, the Lakers have been tied to <\/span>Daniel Gafford<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Robert Williams III<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Nic Claxton<\/span><\/a> (among others) at various points of the season. While they all offer decent levels of athleticism and rim protection, some hope LA can pursue a rival’s young big man via trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Underrated Target Lying in Wait<\/b><\/h3>\n

Years after their famed blockbuster, could the Lakers and Pelicans reconnect for a smaller deal?<\/span><\/p>\n

He may not be <\/span>Herb Jones<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Trey Murphy<\/span><\/a>, but the Pelicans continue to hang onto 21-year-old <\/span>Yves Missi<\/span><\/a> despite several teams\u2014including the Lakers\u2014<\/span>reportedly expressing interest<\/span><\/a> in him.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The <\/span>purple and gold \u201cheld talks\u201d for Missi last summer<\/span><\/a> before eventually landing Ayton. And with Missi now experiencing a decreased role in New Orleans\u2014and <\/span>feeling \u201cdisrespected\u201d<\/span><\/a> because of it\u2014now is the time to get him into a better situation. After averaging 9.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as a first-round rookie, Missi has averaged 5.7 points and 5.8 rebounds in 19.1 minutes as a sophomore. He still stands out despite limited opportunities, dropping three double-doubles, including an impressive one last night<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to his positives as a lob threat and paint protector, Missi\u2019s strength on the glass would be crucial for the Lakers, who are in the <\/span>bottom ten in rebounds per game<\/span><\/a> (41.5, 26th) and <\/span>offensive rebounds per game<\/span><\/a> (10.1, 24th). And in his second year on a remarkably cheap contract ($3.3 million), he\u2019s a relatively affordable option compared to other aforementioned targets, with the potential to truly develop amid a changing of the guard.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Lakers canvas the league for true solutions at the five, Missi is someone worth considering as the deadline nears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Lakers still in need of 3-and-D wings, reports mention the center position as a second priority for the purple and gold. Despite the narrative that \u201cno one wants to play for the Lakers,\u201d one insider has run to the contrary, offering some hope ahead of the deadline. Insider On Lakers’ Center Pursuits: ‘Big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":174579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3,4721],"tags":[1419,38,1133,49284],"class_list":["post-174576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-yves-missi"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174576"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174590,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174576\/revisions\/174590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}