{"id":812874,"date":"2026-07-20T19:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812874\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T19:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:53:11","slug":"lakers-join-heat-and-knicks-in-race-for-free-agent-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/812874\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers join Heat and Knicks in race for free-agent center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Lakers, Heat, and Knicks are among the teams interested in free-agent center Nick Richards, who could join a contender on a veteran-minimum deal.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Lakers continue to explore ways to strengthen their frontcourt despite already making several additions this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/esidery\/status\/2079230001346474183\" rel=\"nofollow\">NBA reporter Evan Sidery<\/a>, the Lakers are among the teams showing interest in free-agent center Nick Richards.<\/p>\n<p>The Miami Heat and New York Knicks have also expressed interest in the 28-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>Richards is considered one of the best remaining centers on the open market and is reportedly prepared to join a contender on a veteran-minimum contract.<\/p>\n<p> Richards could add more size to Lakers&#8217; frontcourt <\/p>\n<p>Richards would give Los Angeles another traditional center capable of protecting the rim, finishing around the basket and contributing on the glass.<\/p>\n<p>Richards was selected with the 42nd pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and spent his first four-plus seasons with the Charlotte Hornets before later playing for the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>The 6-foot-11 center has averaged 7.1 points and 5.8 rebounds across 305 career NBA games, including 5.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have already acquired Walker Kessler and signed three-time NBA champion Kevon Looney, while Sandro Mamukelashvili can also play center in smaller lineups.<\/p>\n<p>Adding Richards would create a crowded center rotation, but it would also provide the Lakers with additional depth, physicality and injury insurance behind Kessler.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-474052-any780x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit AP &#8211; Scanpix<\/p>\n<p>  Lakers would need to create roster opening <\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles currently has all 15 standard roster spots occupied after signing Ziaire Williams to a one-year, $3 million contract.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the Lakers would need to waive or trade a player before completing another signing.<\/p>\n<p>Richards&#8217; willingness to accept the veteran&#8217;s minimum would make the financial side of a potential agreement relatively straightforward.<\/p>\n<p>According to The Athletic, the <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-252330-lakers-reveal-next-priority-after-kuminga-pursuit-loses-momentum.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lakers are still monitoring the market for another center<\/a> despite already adding Kessler and Looney.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/plus?utm_source=basketnews_com&amp;utm_medium=bn_plus&amp;utm_id=UA-259273-31&amp;utm_campaign=banners_free_content_for_not_members_bottom_5\" class=\"banners_paid_content_info_block_white banners-paid-content-info-block-white\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bn-plus-img img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bn-plus.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Like what we are doing? 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It helps us a lot, and we are committed to delivering you the very latest basketball news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers, Heat, and Knicks are among the teams interested in free-agent center Nick Richards, who could join&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-812874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}