Lakers Linked to 2 Potential Buyout Targets

With the NBA trade deadline having passed and the team acquiring sharpshooter Luke Kennard, the Los Angeles Lakers will turn their attention to the buyout market, where they have some intriguing options.

According to Dan Woike of The Athletic, the Lakers have interest in former Brooklyn Nets scorer Cam Thomas and Haywood Highsmith, formerly of the Miami Heat.

Next will be evaluating a group of buyout candidates. Team and league sources say wing Haywood Highsmith is a player of interest, provided his knee issues are resolved. Cam Thomas, his former Nets teammate, is another more polarizing option.

Thomas spent his entire career with the Nets before getting waived after the trade deadline. He's a talented scorer, but has played in only 24 games this season and only 25 games last year in Brooklyn. He came off the bench for the majority of the games he's played during the 2024-25 campaign (16), averaging 15.6 points, 3.1 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 39.9 percent from the floor and 32.5 percent from beyond the arc.

The LSU product would be a solid addition to the bench as instant offense in the second unit. He'd likely be a rental for the rest of the season unless he proves to be a vital piece to the puzzle in Los Angeles as a sixth man.

As for Highsmith, he hasn't played a game this season due to his recovery from knee surgery. The Heat waived him before the trade deadline on Thursday.

Although there's an injury concern with Highsmith, he might be a viable option for the Lakers when healthy, as he had his best season in the league last year with the Heat, averaging 6.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from deep.

Apparently, the Lakers were aggressive in their efforts to "unload" players ahead of the NBA trade deadline. Second-year forward Dalton Knecht was among the players the Lakers were trying to trade, according to Woike.

They were unable to offload any other players, including Dalton Knecht, who league sources say the Lakers shopped aggressively.

There are only 32 games left in the 2025-26 NBA regular season for the Lakers, who sit in fifth place in the Western Conference standings, behind the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Only time will tell if the team decides to add to the roster, hoping to bolster the squad for a strong finish to the regular season and a potential run in the NBA playoffs.