The Los Angeles Lakers, per annual tradition, were among the hottest topics of conversation at NBA Summer League this past week, especially if you count the one question they’re merely tangentially involved in: Where will LeBron James play next season?It, of course, will not be with the Lakers, who decisively put a foot into the ground this summer and moved the organization fully into Luka Dončić’s direction.The cost was severe. The Lakers lost their most accomplished player — a four-time champ and the league’s all-time leading scorer — in James. They also bid farewell to, by percentage, their top-two 3-point shooters in Luke Kennard and Rui Hachimura. Two centers from last season’s roster (Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes) joined new teams. And the Lakers lost their best point-of-attack defender in Marcus Smart, who reunited with Rockets coach Ime Udoka in Houston.Those departures equal nearly 80 percent of the minutes played by the Lakers this postseason and more than 80 percent of the points they scored in the playoffs.And while the players they replaced them with are universally less experienced with almost no postseason production, word out of the team’s veteran minicamp this past week in Las Vegas was optimistic. The biggest reason was the offensive upside, the number of players on the team who can punish a defender off the dribble having multiplied this summer.The most confusing team of the NBA offseasonEsfandiar BaraheniIt’s a crucial skill on the Lakers — the spacing that shooting can create and the overreactions Dončić and Austin Reaves induce with their ability to put defenses into scramble-and-recovery mode. Kennard instantly boosted the Lakers’ ceiling with his knack for creating and putting teams in the blender, and the Lakers can now do so with Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and even Sandro Mamukelashvili. It was one of the big takeaways for the people who watched the Lakers go through workouts in Las Vegas.Another consensus: The Lakers roster isn’t complete. Not now, not long term.The Athletic has reported on the Lakers’ interest in free agent Jonathan Kuminga since late June, but it appears that momentum has stalled with the sides far apart on terms and L.A. not overly motivated to push significant draft capital into sign-and-trade scenarios. Still, he appears to be the biggest upside play left on the table, and could re-emerge as a target if his market remains tepid. Cleveland, according to league sources, is the team most-often connected to Kuminga other than the Lakers.The team, as The Stein Line reported, has interest in free agent Matisse Thybulle, a top-tier defensive wing who has become a good catch-and-shoot player in Portland when he’s been able to stay on the court. That, of course, has been the issue, with Thybulle playing only 45 combined games the past two seasons. He did, though, finish last season healthy.