The Lakers have maintained their interest in free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga but haven’t made a strong enough offer to secure a commitment from him, league sources tell Anthony Slater of ESPN.

As Slater details, after free agency opened last Tuesday, Kuminga had a virtual meeting with Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick, who laid out a plan for how he could thrive alongside star guard Luka Doncic. However, the next day, the team made commitments to Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, and Collin Sexton.

Those signings aren’t yet official, but the expectation based on the reported terms is that adding Kessler, Mamukelashvili, and Grimes will use up all of the Lakers’ cap room, with Sexton receiving the full room exception. That would leave Los Angeles with only the veteran’s minimum to offer unless the team sends out salary in a sign-and-trade.

According to Slater, the Lakers have continued to pursue Kuminga, with multiple members of the organization – including players – reaching out to express their interest in having him come aboard. The front office has also “subtly” improved its offer to the former lottery pick, but Kuminga and agent Aaron Turner still believe that a more favorable deal will emerge.

A sign-and-trade structure would help the Lakers improve their contract offer, but the Hawks would have to be incentivized to make that happen, and it’s unclear if Atlanta would have any interest in taking on players like Jarred Vanderbilt, Dalton Knecht, or Jaden Hardy, especially since L.A. has few draft assets available to offer up as sweeteners. The Lakers control just three second-round picks and a 2032 first-round swap, Slater notes.

Trading one or more of Vanderbilt, Knecht, and Hardy to another team to create additional cap room for Kuminga before officially completing their other signings could also be an option for the Lakers if the Hawks aren’t willing to play ball. But again, that would likely require them to use draft assets as sweeteners.

Here’s more from Slater on some of the options in play for Kuminga:

• Although it remains possible that Kuminga will re-sign with the Hawks, the two sides aren’t actively discussing that scenario at this point, team sources tell ESPN.
• The Cavaliers – whose head coach Kenny Atkinson worked with Kuminga in Golden State – are interested, but they need resolution on the LeBron James situation before they can make determine the feasibility of adding the former Warrior, Slater writes.
• The Kings, who were Kuminga’s most aggressive suitor a year ago when he was a restricted free agent, have checked back in, but they’re not in position to making a strong offer due to their cap situation, even after waiving DeMar DeRozan. They’d likely need to do a sign-and-trade to send out some additional salary, Slater writes, and they’ve been hesitant to discuss that possibility so far.