Bruce Brown is a name who the Los Angeles Lakers are more than accustomed to having connected to their franchise. Those rumors are back. In the past, they have made a fair bit of sense. In early September of 2026, one cannot help but wonder why they have resurfaced at all.
Jake Fischer said on a Bleacher Report livestream: "Bruce Brown is going to be playing for some type of playoff caliber team this season. It's just a matter of where and a matter of when. I think he's in the mix for the Lakers, a team that has had some interest in him for several years now."
It is not that Brown has fallen off a cliff and turned into a bad NBA player. The veteran wing was still serviceable last season with the Denver Nuggets. The 30-year-old averaged 7.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steal in 24.4 minutes per game, posting shooting splits of 48-39-76.
Brown even played all 82 games for the Nuggets last season. The Lakers roster is full, though. More than that, they are heading toward this upcoming campaign over the allowable limit at 16. They need to trim, not add.
Couple that with the other players already on the roster who can slot in at the positions that Brown would play and the Lakers have very little reason to expend their efforts on getting him to Los Angeles.
The maneuvering it would take to add Bruce Brown is not worth it for the Lakers
Brown could be a solid depth addition for a team trying to compete, to Fischer's point above. If the Lakers simply had an open roster spot for him, singing him to a deal could make sense.
The problem is Los Angeles will already be looking for a way to get rid of someone like Dalton Knecht for a minimal trade return to get down to a 15-man group. They may even just outright waive him. Adding Brown would put another player on the chopping block. Who exactly would that be?
Is giving up on Bronny James' development worth one year of Brown? Would it make sense to find a team to take Jaden Hardy to make room? The trade-off in most cases lacks enough upside.
Would the Lakers even want Brown as a rotation player on the 2026-27 team? Sure, he is good enough to play. At the expense of which current player losing minutes? Would Los Angeles really want to sacrifice the developmental minutes of a player like Cameron Carr or Adou Thiero, for example? Again, the incentive is hardly there.
This all comes before even mentioning the reported desire to add more frontcourt help. That would take priority over Brown with this current roster.
The idea of adding the former NBA champion does not have enough reasoning to back it at this point of the summer. The Lakers are better off adding this to years of unfullfilled Brown rumors.
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