Los Angeles Lakers: Adou Thiero's Opportunity After Kuminga Miss

September has arrived, and the Los Angeles Lakers still look unfinished.

The frontcourt gap that Jonathan Kuminga was supposed to fill now sits there, glaring, after the 21-year-old chose a two-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves instead. The miss didn’t just sting; it tightened the vise on a franchise already boxed in by the cap and short on assets.

As Khobi Price outlined in the California Post, the numbers tell a harsh story. The Lakers sit just $8.1 million below the NBA’s $209 million first-apron threshold and are hard-capped for the 2026-27 season. Sixteen players already hold guaranteed contracts. There’s no obvious room, no easy flexibility, and not much left to trade.

The holes, though, are obvious. And the clock is ticking toward training camp.

A Plan B on the Wing

The free-agent market is thin. The trade market, given the Lakers’ nearly depleted asset pool, is even trickier. So the organization is staring at a familiar fallback: look inward.

That’s where Adou Thiero walks in.

At 22, Thiero is not the polished, ready-made version of Kuminga that the Lakers had hoped to import. Price notes the similarities in their frames — Thiero at 6-foot-8, 220 pounds, Kuminga at 6-foot-7, 225 — and both boast the kind of explosive athleticism that jumps off the screen. The difference right now lives in the skill column.

Kuminga is “far ahead of Thiero when it comes to offensive skill and production,” Price wrote. That’s not a mild gap. It’s the reason one just signed a notable deal in Minnesota and the other is still fighting for the fringes of an NBA rotation.

But the failed pursuit of Kuminga cracked open something unexpected: a lane.

Without the former Warriors forward in purple and gold, Thiero suddenly has a clearer path to real minutes. Not star minutes. Not yet. But the kind that can shape a season’s second unit and, in time, a career.

Raw, Electric, and Right on Time

Thiero’s profile fits exactly what this roster lacks. A long, springy wing who can play above the rim, crash the glass, and defend bigger forwards without getting bullied. The kind of player who thrives next to a primary offensive creator — the article referenced how similar profiles have popped alongside Luka Doncic — because they don’t need the ball to change a game.

Thiero is nowhere near starting-caliber right now. That’s clear. What he does have is energy, bounce, and a knack for making plays in the air that pull fans out of their seats and force coaches to take a second look at the film.

Those flashes began to surface late last season.

Price pointed out that the second-year forward, who missed chunks of the campaign with lower-body injuries and spent most of 2025-26 in the G League, finished the year with something far more valuable than hype: consistent playoff minutes. In a veteran-heavy environment, those are not handed out lightly.

Then came July.

In summer league runs in San Francisco and Las Vegas, Thiero turned that late-season opportunity into a reel of high-wire plays and hard-nosed possessions. The tape still shows a raw player, as Price emphasized — there is “plenty of development ahead of him” — but it also shows a clearer identity.

A bigger wing. A lob threat. A strong rebounder. A defender who can hold his own against larger forwards.

Those are precisely the responsibilities the Lakers envisioned for Kuminga. Now, they may ask Thiero to shoulder a portion of that load instead.

A Different Kind of Gamble

This is not the glamorous version of roster building that usually defines the Lakers. There’s no marquee free agent swooping in, no blockbuster trade reshaping the depth chart overnight. The cap has them cornered. The asset cupboard is close to bare. The margin for error is thin.

So they may have to bet on something far less certain but far more intriguing: growth.

If the front office can’t maneuver another move before camp, Thiero becomes one of the most important swing variables on the roster. Not because he’s expected to rescue the season, but because he offers something this team desperately needs — youth, athleticism, and the potential to defend and finish plays that others on the wing simply can’t.

The Lakers wanted Jonathan Kuminga to help solve their frontcourt puzzle.

They didn’t get him.

Now the question is whether Adou Thiero, raw and rising, can turn that disappointment into an opportunity that changes his own trajectory — and maybe, just enough, theirs.