Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Okogie? Horford? Melton? LAKERS FREE AGENT OPTIONS? Plus, Luka's Extension Timeline

Episode Date: July 16, 2025

The free agent market has another name coming. Veteran wing Josh Okogie will be let go by the Charlotte Hornets, and once he clears waivers (which he will), will become one of the more intriguing low-key names on the market. Why? Because while Okogie has some limitations offensively (he's a career 40% shooter from the floor, and 29.9% from downtown) the guy can defend. That's a skill that's valued around the league, and is in short supply on the Lakers. Especially at what would almost certainly be at or close to a vet minimum deal. So would the Lakers make a play for him with the roster slot they presumably will open up by letting Shake Milton go. (This bit of business needs to be done by July 20th.) Or maybe the Lakers are still in play for De'Anthony Melton, who also fills a defensive need while being a better offensive player. Reporting is out there that Al Horford is still considering the Lakers, if he decides to play instead of heading to retirement. The Lakers still could use someone to round out the rotation and fill a hole in the collective skill set. Would Okogie make sense? Meanwhile, August 2nd is the first day Luka Dončić is extension eligible on August 2nd. But don't be surprised if it takes a minute for him to put pen to paper, because of his obligations to Slovenia in Eurobasket. So when should the Lakers start to sweat?  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Okogie? Horford? Someone else?  SEGMENT 2: Can the Lakers find some extra help somewhere?  SEGMENT 3: Luka's timeline.  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnbaHungryrootWith Hungryroot, it’s like having a personal shopper and a nutritionist all in one.For a limited time, get 40% off your first box and a free item in every box for life! Just go to Hungryroot.com/lockedonnba and use codeLOCKEDONNBA.  Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first yearGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone, welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Wednesday. Brian Komenesky, Andy Keminstki, is a little bit more help available now on the free agent market. Can the Lakers get a little bit better? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts Network, your team every day.

Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast, this one's always going to be free and never behind a paywall. And locked on Lakers on YouTube, Andy's, we're over 35,000 subscribers. We're all hanging out talking to each other, talking to us,

and wondering if there is a way the Lakers might be able to squeeze out just a little bit more from this free agent summer. And to that degree, Andy, to that end, a little bit of news today, which will get in.

into here in just a moment. But it's interesting to think about, like, who's still out there, what the Lakers might be able to do. And for me, it's a little bit like, can you solve one thing? Can you add one skill set to your roster? Because there aren't any more like DeAndre Aitans out there who are going to kind of fix a bunch of things, maybe at once. Maybe you could make that argument about Bradley Beal.

Were he to become available. But to the idea of like, let's fix one thing, an intriguing name is likely to end up on the free agent market. Well, there's no likely about it. Josh Okoji is going to be a free agent because the hornets waived him. So this is not a buyout situation or anything like that. I think when you're waived, you still got a clear waiver. But he's going to do it. Well, but I suppose that's true.

The expectation is that he's going to hit the free agency market. If for no other reason then, I think most teams, even if they want him, would like to get him for less than the $7.5 million guaranteed. But you are correct. It is not a done deal that somebody will not pick him up off waivers at that price. It just the- Seems unlikely. I agree with you. The expectation seems to be that that will be the case either way.

He's going to be available for somebody to add to their team because Charlotte ahead of the guarantee date for his contract declined to pick it up. Acogee was not somebody that I had on my radar if for no other reason than I had no idea about his contract situation and whether there were guarantees or anything like that. But insofar as the idea of guys that could be available, theoretically, for a price point that the Lakers could afford and fill some needs that the Lakers could really use filling. Josh Okoji checks a few boxes,

namely the defensive versatility along the wing, defending guys 1 through 3, an area where the Lakers are really quite weak in terms of either established NBA players or guys that don't have, serious question marks in other areas. O'Coji has some question marks of his own. He's not a perfect player, but

he can really help your team defensively. Yeah. Look, Akogi is a terrible shooter. I mean, when you talk about offensive issues, like, you know, that is what it is. He is a terrible shooter. He's gotten better. He has gotten better over the, he has. I mean,

I mean, yes, but sort of. I'm not saying he's gotten good. I've said he's gotten better. He's, he shoots 30% for his career. A lot of that is dragged down from earlier in his career. With the Sons, for example, he shot 33%, which is not good, but it's not like 27 or 28% like he was shooting in Minnesota. Right.

I mean, that's sort of a high watermark. He then, you know, he shot with Phoenix last year. He was at a, what apparently was an unsustainable 38% drop back down to 32. percent with the Hornets. Obviously, context matters. And you're playing with a pretty lousy Charlotte team. And he only played about five games with Charlotte. 15. But he only played 25 with Phoenix last year, too.

So it's like, you know, he didn't play a lot, period. He is over the course of his career a bad shooter. He's 40% from the floor, 29.9% from three point range. The high watermark for a full season, with him is like you say 35% from three point range but even that year he only shot 39% from the floor so he's a very low percentage shooter he's just not a particularly good offensive player I mean I think that is certainly not an efficient one no and you know he's never averaged more

than eight and a half points a game he's like he's just he's I'm sorry yeah over a full season he's just not he's not a particularly good offensive player. He's not going to drive up your assist total. So he's like, you know, he, but what he has is a very specific skill set, which is defense.

And, you know, what I think it's, it's interesting when you look at what the Lakers might do is first, you know, obviously this would require them to open up a roster spot by letting, uh, shake Milton go.

Uh, and they have till July 20. which is a few days from now to get that done. I think the expectation for most people is that they will. But it hasn't happened yet. And there is at least an argument the Lakers could make for holding on to Milton so that his contract can be included in a trade. So that would be the reason really to hold on to him more than anything.

So if it's not a contract, Kogi, Al Horford is a name that's out there that seemed like it wasn't a possibility, but at least, you know, it does reporting on early this week that Horford may actually still be considering the Lakers, among other teams, if he decides to play at all. There's still the Bradley Beale question. You know, I think Amir coffee, guys like that are are still free agents. And anybody like that is going to wait as long as they can to find the right situation because most of the money has dried up. But it's like if you can pick one thing, if you're the Lakers, what do you try to solve?

I would look to try to find point of attack defense, you know, positions one through three because it's not that they have nobody who can do it because, you know, Jared Vanderbilt in a vacuum can do it. Jordan Goodwin in a vacuum can do it. But they have their own considerations offensively as well. We talked in a show last week about the idea of, I think Rui one way or another needs to come off the bench for this team. Because I just feel like a starting unit of Luca, LeBron, Austin, D'Andre Aiton, and Rui, which is right now, I think, the widely projected starting five for this group. there's too much redundancy in terms of, I think, some positional overlap, but also defensively.

There is not nearly enough plus defending out there. There's too many guys who, I think, defend more or less the same position or the same type of players. The bench unit for this team right now does not have nearly enough scoring. My basic thought process is, A, Roo is the most natural candidate to get moved to the bench. B, you know, questions about what you lose in terms of his force facing, things like that. If you can't get a functional offense out of Luca, LeBron, Austin, D'Andre Aiton as your foundation, then either something doesn't work with your system. It is not as good on the court as it is on paper for whatever reason.

But you should be able to get enough offense out of those four guys that you can put a fifth guy out. out there who may not provide much offensively, but provides a skill set that is desperately missing with the way things were currently projected. I had talked about Jordan Goodwin is potentially the guy you could put in there in like a probably 15 to 20 minute a night starting role. A lot of the, Rui would end up playing more minutes than him off the bench in this theoretical. you know, Vanderbilt could be a possibility. I'm open to the idea of Jake Laravia, but I need to see more before I really come around to that.

They need somebody to fill that type of role. And Josh Okoji could be a possibility there. I am, yeah, I mean, my first choice of all these guys. I mean, the better version of him is Anthony Melton, you know, who is, you know, I think, at this point, the Golden State is the odds on favorite here to land or re-land Melton, according to the most of the current reporting. But after the break, let's kind of break down maybe where the Lakers could go, which guy you might hold out for, would you hold out a little bit longer

and just sort of let see what else might happen over the course of the rest of the summer, or if you get a chance, jump at one of these guys who might still be available. So we'll do that next. Octone Lakers is brought to you by Monarch Money because we all wish that managing money felt easier. And with Monarch money, it can. Whether you're talking about growing your savings for a big purchase, maybe you're taking a vacation, you know, at summertime, people like to do that.

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and then you can get serious about your financial goals and how to address them and meet them. So take control your finances with Monarch Money. You use code locked on NBA at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on MBA for half off your first year. I am curious about two things.

I think ultimately they will release Shake Milton and open up a spot. I think they are by all accounts trying to figure out a way to open up a second roster spot by, you know, in a trade, what a lot of people call a consolidation trade where you trade two, you bring back one, that opens up another roster spot. I think they would ideally love to keep one open. I don't think they have the luxury to do that, but neither do I.

So I'm curious as to whether or not they, if they just release shake and they can't pull off a trade because would they fill that spot or would they leave it open? And then who would they try to fill it with? If you get a guy like Al Horford, I feel like that's a no-brainer. I do feel like somebody like Josh Kogi, I'm not sure they would jump at that. I think that they might just keep open. I'm not saying that's right.

I just think that's sort of what they would do. I tend to agree with you that particularly because the back of the roster has so many question marks. I don't know if this team... I know Rob Polinka often likes to maintain that flexibility of having that one open roster spot. And in a vacuum as a concept, I understand it. I just don't think this particular roster allows you that luxury.

I think you should be trying to get as many good players as you can, especially because, like, if say you're leaving space for the buyout market or something like that. For the most part, I think the player that you're going to get in the buyout market is likely no better or more impactful than the person you would pick up now. So I would rather have the guy that you have now for an entire season and the optionality of just that person being available as opposed to waiting around for theoretical player X. And, you know, Rob Rob Polinga does like to do a lot of theoretical planning. Like he likes to have flexibility for a lot of theoreticals,

which we've talked about before. Well, look, because it's always, it is always with Rob about the next thing, you know, because we're going to be able to get the next guy. We're going to be able to get the next, but you know, it's whether you believe it's 2026 and they don't want to take on money beyond there. I mean, you know, Dan Wakey reporting that the Lakers are, not interested in, he was on with Zach Lowe on the new episode of Zach Lowe's show on The Ringer,

say, you know, flat out, Lakers do not, are not interested in Wiggins. And now is that based on the price because is Miami still insisting on a first round pick for Wiggins, a first round pick and Dalton Connect, some of that? Or is it because they just don't want to take on Andrew Wiggins' his contract, Dan didn't elaborate. I think it's probably as much the latter as it is the former, but if they're asking for a first round or it's a move point anyway. So, you know, that is one of my major criticisms of Rob is it is always sort of about the next thing that we're going to do, maintaining the flexibility so we can get, you know,

the next star guy and, you know, Janus or Yokic or whoever comes available. as opposed to just fix your team now, make your team better now, pick up good players now, have confidence that you can pick the right guys so that if something else comes up, those people that you picked up have value around the league. I mean, I honestly think the Vanderbilt contract and is sort of spooked the Lakers and Rob to being kind of gun-shy about signing anyone to multiple seasons. I think they've, I think he's just not, I don't think they have the confidence for this sort of thing too. I mean, I think there's probably an element of that too. And I mean, I think you can take it back further to the Rust trade.

I think that being such a spectacular disaster has made them, has made them, I think, very sure. I think it's made them very apprehend. Are 100% sure the Westbrook trade didn't work. I mean, there's there, look, there's always time in hindsight and things like. that. Sometimes with the light of day and distance, things can look a little bit better, but thus far, it's still leaning towards disaster. I think that has played a role in all that. And look, it may just be as simple as even if the first isn't involved. We don't, we don't think Andrew Wiggins is going to make enough of a difference for us right now compared to maybe some other options that could be available down the line. I mean, Andrew Wiggins, do I think he fits on paper

in certain ways better than, say, Rui or other guys? Yes. Andrew Wiggins has also not been involved with any high level of winning for several years. And you ask Warriors fans about the last three years of the Andrew Wiggins experience and their general consensus was get him the F out of here. Like, I mean, he was great in that title. season for the Warriors ever since then. And to be fair to Wiggins, some of this is for reasons that have to do with his personal life and a lot of really tough things happening. And I have empathy for that. But it doesn't change the fact that he has not been close to the same player since then. So they may just feel like for whatever Miami's asking prices,

combined with the idea of having him for a couple more years, they just don't think he, would be as impactful as what they know Rui provides and perhaps more immediate flexibility, whatever. But they, one way or another, they need to be filling some of these needs across the roster. And, you know, they need to find defenders that they don't have for this team. But the problem is. And this is where I would say, you know, and I know there are a lot of people who are not, you know, the Wiggins thing and I get it.

I wouldn't trade the first rounder. Would I trade Rui and Dalton? Yeah, I think I would, mostly because I'm kind of down on Dalton and I think if you can reslot Wiggins and, you know, for Rui in their lineup, it just makes a lot more sense. Everybody slots into places that make sense. Wiggins still a good defender. You're not relying on him to be, you know, a second or,

even a third scorer for your team at this point. He probably in that starting lineup, he'd be the fifth score. You know, and all he, it's like go defend all the time. And that's your job. And I think that would be fine. And it would work out really well.

It rebalances the roster. The problem with guys like, they need somebody like him regardless. Right. And so I would just say go get him. And again, I'm kind of down on Dalton. And I think, you know, Is there a chance you'd be selling low?

Absolutely. There's also a chance you'd be selling before the bottom drops out of his market to whatever degree it exists. I, the problem and why I would make 100% sure that I can't get Melton before I go for Josh Okie. because while Melton is not a perfect offensive player, he's better. And the Lakers have too many one-way players. One of their major problems is they just have too many one-way guys. And that's what he would be. Melton is a little bit more of a two-way player.

Al Horford is a little bit more of a two-way player. You just need guys who can play both sides of the. the ball. And that's something that while Andrew Wiggins is imperfect, he certainly is a two-way player, even at this stage of his career. Again, I am not making the case not to get Andrew Wiggins. I'm just saying that it, the case to not get him or where the Lakers may not be as interested, again, it may be Miami's asking price is just too high. They are currently projecting right now that they really want Wiggins to be a part of this core. Eric Spolster said, this on the record. I don't know if it was in summer league or wherever, but he said this recently

that Andrew Wiggins, they consider them part of their core moving forward. They're excited to have them for a full season. This may be posturing to raise the price. It may actually reflect Miami, a team that never wants to rebuild. They will always try to make the playoffs every year wanting Andrew Wiggins for that quest to make the playoffs. I'm just saying that the argument, And if there is some skepticism about the idea of how much Andrew Wiggins has consistently affected winning over the course of his career, I can see that argument even if I'm not saying don't get him. Yeah, from my perspective, if it's the contract, that's a bad reason. If it's the asking price, that's a different question. There will kind of follow some of these free agent stories.

I don't think the Lakers are going to make a move particularly quickly. but as more guys kind of trickle onto the market, I think they're going to wait out this Beale thing to find. You don't start making moves and jumping the gun for someone like a Cody. I don't think you do that, but it raises the question of what they should be getting. They can afford to be patient, but it'll be interesting to sort of follow along to see what shakes loose

and how aggressive the Lakers might be. next though talk a little Luca Donchich and what his timeline for extending with the Lakers might look like gets that next I think fans like the next thing is

Luca like we're kind of everybody's neck deep in the LeBron thing but you know we're kind of wondering like fine this is his last year it's not his last year whatever it might be Luca on the other hand is obviously the major imperative for the Lakers. Brian Windhorst this week on

with Tim McMahon. There was up there podcast, correct, as they were doing this. He's talked about it. This has come up for Wendy, I think both on the Hoop Collective and on ESPN's NBA show. So this notion of when Luca,

Luca is going to extend. He is extension eligible on August 2nd. He is saying, do not freak out if the extension doesn't get signed right away because he's going to be playing in Eurobasket and historically does not do any basketball, NBA business when that is going on. So I think that's true. When, what do you think, how much do you think? how much do you think what they're doing this summer

is really going to impact not when he signs, but either what kind of contract he signs or the I guess nightmare scenario for the Lakers which is he doesn't sign before the season starts. They enter the season without an extension. That's a red flag obviously.

I'd like to think little to nothing because I would like to think that they are in continuing constant communication with Luca. This is something I've talked about a lot over this summer with whatever moves the Lakers are making or not making the reports of the 2026 offseason focus, the 2027 offseason focus, like contract lengths, whatever. The one thing that should be constant and crystal clear in all of this is communication with

Luca. Like if they are, and I say this only because when you see a lot of the reporting about this, there often seems to be an assumption that they have no idea what Luca's feeling is. And therefore, they better dazzle him this offseason or else Luca's not going to sign this extension. My thought is if they don't know exactly what Luca is thinking like every single damn day, they're doing something wrong. Like there is no reason for them to be reading Lucas mind or trying to sense what he wants. You should know what he wants.

You should know does he like how things are going? Any thoughts he have? Like Bill Duffy, his agent, Diannory Aiton's agent, he was in the building when Diannary Aiton was being introduced. Saw him there, reintroduced myself, all that stuff. He had plenty of time to talk with Bill Duffy. Like there are opportunities for communication. and if they are not at any point clear in how Luca is feeling about any of this stuff,

that in and of itself is a bigger problem than whatever moves they decide to make, don't make whatever. There should be no ambiguity about how he's feeling. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, this is one of those things that, you know, look, we're all excited, especially like comparing to Summer League, you know, the Bronny story. is interesting. The connect thing is intriguing, if not the outcome right now that

Lakers fans want, but it's still kind of a fascinating situation to watch when you compare them to other rookies. I am so over-watching Summer League, and I am very much looking forward to a higher quality of basketball with Eurobasket than I've

seen in Summer League, and I'm going to see in Summer League. The only thing I'm not looking forward to are when these games happen on the West Coast, because that could make for some uncomfortable viewing times. I think the only reason Lakers fans would be nervous is just because they don't trust the front office.

They just don't have that full-on belief that they're, you know, it's going to be good. They've got a plan. They've got, you know, buy-in. They're going to improve the team enough or look like they're interested in improving the team enough or send the right signals. or show the right blueprint or whatever it is to Luca so that if they remain relatively quiet this offseason, which aside from DeAndre Aidan,

almost literally falling into their laps, they've basically done. If they're going to- They kind of got steered into their lap, but fall in might be a little bit too passive. Yeah, he was shepherded. They were very lucky that Aiton became available, is really what it is.

I mean, you know, they were, they were more lucky that Luca Donchich became available for them. DeAndre Aiton becoming available is just a heads up from the shared agent. Right. But I mean, I don't think at the beginning of the, I think at the beginning of the summer, everybody said, DeAndre Aden could be had in a trade. I know.

Yeah, Portland would be like, yeah, we'll do. We'll put something together for that. But the idea that Aiton would be available as a free agent, I don't think was necessarily on everybody's radar. And so that's what I mean. Like he's just become, you know, an unexpected free agent kind of falls into your lap. Not quite the miracle of Luca Donchich, but, you know, a smaller version of that. Other than that, they've been very, very quiet.

And so if that quiet continues up until training camp, they say release shake, but leave that 14th spot or 15th spot open or whatever if they need to be able to then convince Luca that the blueprints for next off season or for the trade deadline or whatever is going to be strong and if the line is hey we're going to have three first round picks to be able to trade and we'll have an extra cap space and all this other stuff if I'm Luca and I look at their track record, I'm a little, I'm at least wary. I don't, I mean, I don't think he's leaving. I don't think, I mean, the short answer of where could he go is anywhere he wants,

but I don't think he's leaving. I just, I don't think Lakers fans trust the front office, but really have a good plan. That's fine. But I do think it is important for all of us to remember because all of us do a certain amount of projection with this because we are so steeped in the day in, day out of the Lakers front office and have been invested in this for so long. We likely have a much more formed idea of what they are capable of pulling off, not capable of pulling off than Luca. Like there is a certain amount of bias. And I don't even mean bias that's unwarranted.

I'm just saying bias because we have paid. much attention to this and like the, you know, the minutia of it and the granular of it in ways that Luca likely has not because why would he have been? So the idea that Luca would have as preformed an idea of the Lakers front office on the same level that all of us would, honestly, I think is perhaps at least a bit of an assumption. Right. I mean, really it's, it's does Luca feel comfortable? Does Bill Duffy feel comfortable? I was going to say, does, does, Does Bill Duffy feel comfortable? And again, they need to be in communication because you and I both think that the idea of really not making a serious move, you know, other than perhaps rare exception until the 2027 offseason, the way this has been very widely reported as a Laker plan, I will say again, I remain skeptical of how much this is actually the plan.

But if it is, it really doesn't matter what we think of it. What matters is what Luca thinks of it. And if Luca is, for reasons we may not even understand okay with it, that's honestly all that matters. Our disapproval, while I'm not going to say is irrelevant, because I want people to watch this show every day hearing and watch. It's going to be irrelevant to Rob Polenko. Right. But what really matters is, does. What does Luca think about this?

And again, I go back to my original point. They should know exactly what he thinks of plans A through Z. There should be no ambiguity at all. So it's just something to keep an eye on. The biggest thing is it almost surely will, if Slovenia has a decent run in the Eurobasket, which is a pretty spread out tournament as it is, if assuming that's the case,

you're not going to hear about any of this until September. It's really not until training camp rolls around if there's still not an extension that I think Lakers fans need to start worrying. You know, everybody will be talking about it. We'll all want it to happen. Well, you know, everybody, you know, there will be pots that get stirred around the league the longer it goes. But I think up until training camp, it's just not really a thing. The LeBron, I think, questions are much more like if there's smoke, there's fire in terms of any kind of discontent with the team. There's no smoke right now with Luca.

And to create it, I think would be a mistake. Lockout Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 35,000 subscribers to the channel. We'll be back tomorrow. Send us your questions. Send us your comments. It's a great time for mailbag stuff. We're happy to answer as much as we can. We'll see everybody tomorrow.