The Los Angeles Lakers made the most out of one team discarding their roster talent when they signed DeAndre Ayton following his buyout from the Portland Trail Blazers. They could do the same if/when Bradley Beal becomes available following a looming buyout from the Phoenix Suns.
Fred Katz of The Athletic wrote, "The Suns and Beal are increasingly optimistic that the two sides will agree to terms on a buyout, league sources tell The Athletic. The move would make Beal an unrestricted free agent."
Katz went on to mention a few teams connected to Beal in the circumstances of him getting bought out. The Lakers join the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Golden State Warriors as the key teams to monitor, according to the insider.
One thing is becoming abundantly clear from the Lakers' offseason, and the potential addition of Beal here. They have bought in on what their approach to winning basketball games will be in 2025-26. They want to run teams out of the building with buckets, buckets, and, you guessed it, more buckets.
Lakers' offensive-minded approach sends loud message
The hints have been there for a long time now. It appears more obvious now. The focus is on the offense for next season.
The first inkling of that plan should have been identifiable from the Lakers' intentions of holding onto Austin Reaves. The talented offensive guard has the vast majority of his value on that end of the court.
The signing of Ayton added to reaffirming this. The new Lakers center is not incapable on defense, in spite of the poor effort often on display. However, the appeal of having Ayton as a lob threat for Luka Doncic is undoubtedly the best selling point of his addition to Los Angeles.
The Clippers, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Bucks are expected to show interest in Bradley Beal, per @JakeLFischer
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 7, 2025
“Some confirmed suitors for Beal include the LA Clippers — fresh off agreeing to trade Norman Powellto Miami in a three-team deal that will bring back Utah's John… pic.twitter.com/VOnFLHxTcX
Then, there's the fact that Beal is not the only offensive-minded star they have been linked to during this offseason. The Lakers were one of the teams reported to have interest in signing Damian Lillard after his stunning departure from the Bucks.
Hitting this point of the offseason and still seeing Dalton Knecht on the roster should offer some icing on the cake to validate what the focus is. Granted, the Lakers have not completely ignored the defensive end.
Rob Pelinka and company certainly had that side of the court in mind when they added Adou Thiero in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft. They have also been linked to Andrew Wiggins. Although, that potential deal is going nowhere, fast.
At the end of it all, perhaps embracing the mentality of barraging the opposing team with more offense than they can handle will give the Lakers a firm identity for 2025-26, at the least. That has been something Pelinka's reported offseason plan has faced backlash for lacking to this point.