With the craze over where Giannis will go, Brook Lopez’s free agency news has flown under the radar
With so much focus this off-season on the direction of the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo, people seem to forget that other players could be moving on. One of those players is the 37-year-old big man Brook Lopez, who is an unrestricted free agent after finishing a two-year, $48 million deal back in the 2023 off-season. There already seem to be rumors rumbling about where Lopez could end up once the legal tampering period begins on June 30. Back on May 15, during the NBA Draft Combine, ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported that one potential option for the Golden State Warriors at the center position would be Brook:
For any of those who missed it during the craze of all the Giannis news, back on May 15, Bobby Marks listed #Bucks center Brook Lopez as a target for the Golden State Warriors.
— Jackson Gross (@jgrossreporter.bsky.social) 2025-05-23T19:37:22.915Z
The fit makes sense: a rim-protecting big who can space the floor is the center the Warriors have never had outside of Draymond Green in his prime. While Lopez has lost a step, he would be a great stop-gap option so Green wouldn’t have to play center as much, and it would allow Trayce Jackson-Davis and Quinten Post to develop and learn from a center like Lopez. Heading into the off-season, the Warriors are listed to be under the 1st apron, so Brook could be in line to receive the full mid-level exception (MLE). I’m not sure the Warriors would be inclined to give him that type of money at this stage of his career, but if they wanted to they could.
Another team floated as a potential landing spot would be another type of reunion, with some speculating that the Los Angeles Lakers have already talked with him. However, the source of that rumor is to be taken with a grain of salt (Gery Woelfel). Lopez played for the purple and gold for just one season after being part of the D’Angelo Russell trade. The Lakers were just dominated on the glass in their first-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Rudy Gobert putting up the best playoff game of his career in game five. The 12-year veteran put up 27 points and 24 rebounds in the T-Wolves’ Game 5 win:
Signing someone like Lopez would allow the Lakers to play five out with two of the best passers in the league in LeBron James and Luka Doncic. On the other end, they would have a dependable defensive big who would at the very least be able to provide a rebounding presence for a Lakers team in desperate need of a big. They did try to find a way to get a big, attempting to trade for Charlotte Hornets big man Mark Williams, but the Lakers failed his physical and the trade was rescinded. They ended up having to rely on Jaxson Hayes, Alex Len, and Jared Vanderbilt at the five, and that did not go well.
We will have updates once free agency truly begins on June 30 and whether we see another piece of the Bucks’ championship core depart.