After some buzz around him this offseason, Andrew Wiggins appears to be someone not on the Lakers radar as a trade target.
The playoffs painted a pretty clear picture that the Lakers’ roster was imbalanced and an imperfect fit around Luka Dončić. The offseason, then, was set to serve as the runway for the Lakers to reshape things around their new superstar.
However, there’s been little of that so far.
The Lakers brought in Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia in free agency, but that’s largely been the extent of the roster changes.
While the offseason is still young, the desire for change has led to lots of speculation and brainstorming from fans. One of the names that came up often was Andrew Wiggins. Despite minimal reporting linking the Lakers and Wiggins, his name has persisted throughout the summer.
However, it sounds like that’s a name that can be crossed off the list of potential trade targets. During an appearance on “The Zach Lowe Show,” Dan Woike of The Athletic said flat out that the Lakers aren’t interested in Wiggins.
Zach Lowe: “The Lakers have, I guess, sniffed around Wiggins. I didn’t really understand that.”
Dan Woike: “They’re not interested in Andrew Wiggins. I think I can put that to bed.”
This could be interpreted in a couple of ways.
On one hand, the little bit that has been reported about Wiggins involved a crazy high asking price of Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht and a pick. If that’s the price and the Heat aren’t budging, then the interest should absolutely end there.
On the other hand, the reporting that does exist hasn’t been strong links between the Lakers and Heat, so maybe there was never much to begin with there. While Wiggins might be a better fit as a wing than Hachimura, he’s been far from the same player he was in the Warriors’ title-winning season and it’s a risk for the Lakers to trade away someone who has been productive in Hachimura to acquire that player.
The Lakers also wouldn’t be wrong, then, to view Wiggins as someone not worth being interested in considering his up-and-down play.
Whatever the rationale is, Woike, who is well-connected with the Lakers, coming out as strongly as he did on this topic pretty much smothers whatever bit of smoke there was with this one.
If the Lakers are going to reshape their roster and, ideally, find some upgrades this offseason, it doesn’t appear it’s going to involve Wiggins.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.