{"id":201187,"date":"2026-06-18T16:20:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=201187"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:20:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:20:33","slug":"lakers-john-collins-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/06\/18\/lakers-john-collins-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Highlights Versatile Veteran as Ideal Lakers Target"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With reports brewing over free agents the Los Angeles Lakers could pursue this offseason\u2014including <a  href=\"https:\/\/lakersnation.com\/luka-doncic-gives-input-on-what-type-of-players-lakers-need\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">comments<\/a> from <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> that make the blueprint clear as day\u2014the purple and gold have their work cut out for them over the next few months. One NBC Sports analyst offered up three bigs who can satisfy the team\u2019s need for frontcourt depth,\u00a0 including a new but familiar name who has also called LA home: <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/collijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Collins<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Analyst Highlights Versatile Veteran as Ideal Lakers Target<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a Thursday segment breaking down the potential best free agent fits for LA, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/watch\/nba\/los-angeles-lakers-2026-nba-free-agency-fits-john-collins-robert-williams\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBC Sports&#8217; Grant Liffman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> brought up Collins<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0as someone who&#8217;s flown \u201cunder the radar,\u201d adding:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe\u2019s not the same player he used to be. He\u2019s not this high-flyer, not-really-much-of-a-team-guy. \u2026 He actually fits well into team dynamics now and plays a role. He\u2019s a lob threat, of course, for someone like Luka, and Luka could always use a lob threat. But he\u2019s a good help-side rim defender as well. He\u2019s really become a solid defensive player. Finally, he shot 40% from three the last three seasons. A little floor-spacing always helps. I think John Collins could really fit well with this team out of the corner, doing all the things that they need to help them really shore up some of their defense\u2014especially at the rim.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">John Collins comes out of nowhere and ERASES this dunk attempt! \ud83d\ude24 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7GM5W6qoyr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/7GM5W6qoyr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NBA TV (@NBATV) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NBATV\/status\/2038352923546075447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 29, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 69 games (56 starts) for the LA Clippers, Collins averaged 13.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and an assist per game on .552\/.406\/.766 splits. Defensively, he averaged 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks, both roughly around his career averages (1.0 SPG, 0.7 BPG). Known primarily for his poster dunks\u2014both <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kbVNDbJctSg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">delivering<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TimberWolves_fr\/status\/2065364026654126432\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">receiving<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> them\u2014Collins has diversified his game to become a legitimate perimeter threat, all while crashing the glass and protecting the rim.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the Lakers, who have sorely needed defense, athleticism and floor spacing up front, Collins checks those boxes perfectly. In addition to his elite bounce and smooth jumper, his rock-solid rebounding would be critical for a team that ranked <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/traditional?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;amp;dir=-1&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=REB\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">27th in boards per game<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the regular season (and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/traditional?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;amp;dir=-1&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=OREB\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">29th<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the offensive glass).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 800px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBG2rnc4lT\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3072px; aspect-ratio: 3072\/2048;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h3>Collins\u2019 Value Entering Free Agency<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although the 28-year-old is coming off a $26.6 million player option at the end of a max contract, reports suggest that it wouldn\u2019t cost the Lakers an arm and a leg to get him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On a recent episode of the <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uzR6451UHcA&amp;t=1403s\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cGame Theory Podcast,\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon concurred that Collins wouldn\u2019t get anything more than the non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, which is projected to be around $15 million. Assuming the Lakers gain access to that after deciding on their own free agents, Collins should be a worthy target for that kind of payday, complementing the starting lineup or energizing the second unit.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Other Recent Lakers Targets Mentioned as Potential Fits<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to Collins, Liffman once again fanned the flames around <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/robinmi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mitchell Robinson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/williro04.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Robert Williams III<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, lumping them together as injury-prone bigs who could still help the Lakers\u2019 defense.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBoth of them, when healthy\u2014in their own styles, their different sizes and the way they play\u2014they\u2019re defensive anchors, and they do a lot of great things defensively. Can they get Mitchell Robinson? He\u2019s going to be more expensive than Robert Williams. They will look at him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBut Robert Williams, when healthy, fits this team to a tee, to exactly what they need on the back end. Very smart player, dynamic center that really people have lost sight of because of his injuries since his Boston days. \u2026 Those two guys, one of them could really solidify the starting center spot for [the Lakers].\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reigning champion Robinson is coming off his healthiest campaign in years, playing 60 games (most since 2022-23) and stabilizing the Knicks\u2019 defense behind <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Karl-Anthony Towns<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The 7-footer averaged 5.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks as the Knicks\u2019 sixth man this season. Though his minutes diminished slightly in the playoffs (from 19.6 to 13.9), he still put up 4.8 points and 5.5 rebounds on 67.3% shooting from the field.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Williams III, a longtime <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-238071-lakers-trade-target-at-center-position-revealed.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trade target<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for LA, also served as a modest backup for the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/05\/25\/blazers-big-man-ufa\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Portland Trail Blazers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, constantly holding his own with his 6\u20199\u201d, 249-pound frame. In 59 games, Williams III put up 6.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 70.8% from the field and\u2014albeit on limited volume\u201439.1% from deep.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elevating either of them to a starting role could bode well for Doncic and the Lakers, though their respective injury histories remain causes for concern.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With reports brewing over free agents the Los Angeles Lakers could pursue this offseason\u2014including comments from Luka Doncic that make the blueprint clear as day\u2014the purple and gold have their work cut out for them over the next few months. One NBC Sports analyst offered up three bigs who can satisfy the team\u2019s need for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":201210,"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],"tags":[998,1133,1616,297,4613],"class_list":["post-201187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-john-collins","tag-luka-doncic","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-robert-williams-iii"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201187","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=201187"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201220,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201187\/revisions\/201220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}