2025 NBA Free Agency: What are the Lakers remaining options at Center? | Ayton, Horford, & MORE

2025 NBA Free Agency: What are the Lakers remaining options at Center? | Ayton, Horford, & MORE

Welcome back into CBS Sports HQ. We’re going to keep the NBA talk rolling here. Ashton Nicole Mas, Brad Bodkin, and Amanda Garrett here. Uh, want to let you know as a lot of things are going down. A lot of people talking about the Bucks right now because we got a lot of questions about that. Uh, Yaka Purle agreeing to a 4-year 104 million deal with the Raptors. You said during the commercial break they love him. Uh, we’re gonna go from big man to big man here because we got to fix the Lakers at this point. Uh, Noah, our producer, there’s the tweet. Sam Quinn uh who works for us. I pedled a lot of Giannis rumors in my day, but Milwaukee might have inadvertently triggered the funniest sequence of events possible. Pacers sign Aton. And here’s really the part we got to get to. Lakers have no centers to sign. LeBron James requests a trade from LA. Uh don’t know if he’s going to do that, but we got to find the Lakers a center. Uh the Rockets have like three right now. The Lakers still don’t have any. Ashley Nicole Moss, you’ve come up with how many opt? We have three options. wanted five, but five was a stretch. Three was a stretch, but I got three. I got three.
As you’re working throughout the day, talking about all the trades going down. You’re still having to come up with this. Noah wanted three. I gave him three.
Let’s start with one and let’s see what Brad thinks.
Uh I think Brad’s going to like this one. Number one is Al Horford.
Oh, yeah.
Uh I’ll let Brad. You want to explain why you like him?
He’s still a very good player. Uh the basketball IQ with Luca and and LeBron and Al Horford would be off the charts. He stretches the floor still as a shooter. Uh, and he can still defend at a super high level. There’s a big big difference between getting DeAndre Aiden and Al Horford
for sure. And number two is DeAndre. Now bear with me when I explain why. It’s not because I think he’s, you know, the second coming of Hakee or Kareem or any of the Ems. I just he’s the best available next to Al Horford. And I think that now things are going to get interesting because the Pacers and the Lakers I feel like are going to be going at it. They’re going to be going at it for the same girl and the girl in the situation is DeAndre Aen.
I think if they had a dating app and it was back in the dating app it was only the people that didn’t get swiped on like best available. That’s what the Aidens are the leftovers.
DeAndre is now two dating apps. The babies and the leftovers.
Oh man, you don’t want to be on the leftover app.
You cannot go
to dinner tonight with Aiden.
You cannot go into the season with the Los Angeles Lakers and you have Luca and you have LeBron. LeBron for the time being and you cannot have Jackson Hayes being your starting center. Now granted, DeAndre in is in a drastic improvement from Dra from Jackson Hayes that there is a slight elevation. Now Al Horford is a much better improvement than both of those guys I just named. You got to find somebody. You got to land on someone. And if you don’t, we’re having a different conversation after the third guy. Yeah. What was the third guy? Third guy is a guy the Nets don’t want to let go of, but this would have to be a trade. I like Nick Claxton a lot. Um,
now we’re talking.
This would be a this would be a piece. This would be a centerpiece. I don’t mean centerpiece, but a center and a piece that would be able to be with Luca post the LeBron era. This is a type of center that you go after. He could also play the four. It’s like a four five that you go after because you’re thinking about what this team is going to look like with Luca whenever LeBron does move on. Whether that’s he retires, he moves on from the Lakers. But to Brad’s point, this is not a free agent. This is somebody you would have to package up something or some things to get. But I think Nick Clax would be a good
Oh, now we’re talking. Now we’re talking. But I mean it’s if they end up if it’s down to the actual free agents big big swing on the grade of the Lakers off seasonason if it’s if it’s Horford or Eightton.
Okay. So let me ask you this though. These are options. The bottom line is the Lakers need to find a center. So what is realistic in this? What could you guys actually see them doing?
I think it’s one I think it’s one of the first two.
Either Horford or
And it’s a big difference. It’s a big You know, there’s a lot of guys Herb Jones is not a center, but there’s a lot of guys we could sit here and talk about. Well, if the Lakers put a package together, they could go and trade for him that a lot of players fall under that under that cloud and maybe they do it. But the guys that are right there that are going to sign with somebody, they’re free agents right now, it’s Aiden and Horford. Um, you know, Chris Buchchet is a guy I don’t think Chris Buchchet has signed from from Toronto anywhere. He’s a guy that that that I’ve heard as a backup plan for a lot of teams. I know Golden State is interested in Horford. Buchchet is he offers a lot of the same things. He’s a he’s a shot blocker, rim protector, and he stretches the floor as a three-point shooter. has actually quietly been almost as productive as some of the best centers in the league. So Buché is a guy I think is a backup for a lot of teams that are going after Horford. DeAndre Aton, it’s strange to me that he that he has become the focal point of conversations. I think it’s only because it’s the Lakers like if like you know I don’t know the Magic were in line like the Magic might be getting Aiden, we would not be doing segments on it. It’s DeAndre Aton but it’s only because it’s the Lakers
and it’s because they desperately need to fill that position. They do, but Buché and and Horford are like,
“No, but I’m saying that’s why we’re we’re having this conversation at Nauseium and it’s a it’s this massive thing because to Brad’s point, DeAndre Eaton is not.”
And also, there was reporting right when it came out that the Lakers were after him. So, we have to talk on the reporting
and this Mile Turner situation kind of threw everything in a wrench and now you’re going to have the Pacers and the Lakers going at it. They need a center. LeBron’s apparently not happy. God only knows how Luca feels. So, let me ask you this. with hearing LeBron James isn’t happy. He did opt into the final year of his contract. Uh but there are still so many questions about his future in with the Lakers. How badly are the Lakers if we compare this to the Giannis situation? Granted, we have a 10-year difference in the age of the players. How desperate are the Lakers?
No, they’re they’re the opposite. They’re not doing anything. And that’s been the frustration of Lakers fans for now. They did go get Luca. That that’s because Nico Harrison threw him in their lap. I mean, they they have they have um not wanted to get rid of future draft picks. They have not wanted to go out and they let a guy like Dorian Finny Smith walk. They are clearly not prioritizing this last year and that’s why people are talking about does LeBron James request a trade because the team is clearly planning for post LeBron.
Well, I will say I don’t want to go as far as saying they don’t care because while you still have LeBron, you’re still trying to win. I I don’t think it’s smart and if the Lakers are approaching it this way, that’s not smart because you still have Luca, you still have LeBron, you should try to put the best team together as possible, as difficult as it may be. But the situation with Giannis and LeBron is different because the fact that Giannis still has two years left on his deal. He’s 10 years younger
and he’s 10 years younger. LeBron had the option to extend with the Lakers chose not to. And then you add on top of that the statement from Rich Paul. I think the Lakers also know the writing may be on the wall, but let’s be honest, LeBron leaving the Lakers helps the Lakers. Like he sucks up a lot of money. They’re going to have max. you’re going to be able to build this team around Luca and kind of start from scratch.
It’s all about the bar that you’re willing to cross to outfit your team to win. Right now, when you have Giannis on your team and and hope to have him for the next decade, you will cross a very high bar to keep him there. The Lakers are like jumping over a phone book to keep because he’s leaving anyway. They’re not they’re not gonna they’re not gonna go and blow anything up or or leftovers. The Lakers the Lakers are in couple counseling, but they’re like on Tinder at the same time. Whereas the the the Bucks and Giannis, they’re focused. They’re like, “Whatever you want, I’m going to give it to you.” What do you need? What did they What did Noah say in the notebook?
They don’t know Giannis created a profile two months ago.
Yeah. Giannis has a sneaky he has um a burner burner account.
Was it Ashley Madison? He has one of those there. I know guys, you have done an absolutely phenomenal job today. I think you’ve been talking for about 5 hours straight. Ashley Nico, uh, with her show, Triple Threat, uh, you could watch it by scanning the QR code. Obviously, there is so much to talk about, but Brad, also, thank you to you, too.

Ashley Nicole Moss and Brad Botkin join CBS Sports HQ to discuss the Lakers remaining options at center after Day 1 of free agency.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CBSSports

WATCH
CBS Sports HQ: https://www.cbssports.com/live/
Paramount Plus: https://www.paramountplus.com

FOLLOW US ON:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/CBSSports/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cbssports/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/CBSSports

#nba #lakers