With Luka Doncic sidelined with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and Austin Reaves nursing a Grade 2 oblique injury, the Los Angeles Lakers had little room for error entering the playoffs. And when the front office waived Kobe Bufkin on Friday before the roster deadline of 5:00 PM, it was an open invitation for fans to flood X with demands. Jaden Ivey’s name was among the loudest.
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The move created an opening on the Lakers’ standard 15-man roster. And the team is expected to evaluate options for that opening over the weekend before Sunday’s deadline to re-sign a 15th player.
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Bufkin, during his stint in LA, appeared in just 16 games this season. He averaged 2.9 points per game and bounced between the main roster and the South Bay Lakers throughout the year.
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Fans call for Jaden Ivey as Bufkin gets waived
The reaction on X was immediate. “Jaden Ivey or Cam Thomas,” posted one fan. “Please get Jaden Ivey,” went another. “For Jaden Ivey or Cam Thomas,” echoed a third. The asks were understandable, and the argument for Ivey in particular was easy to construct. The former No. 5 pick was waived by the Chicago Bulls on March 30 after he posted a series of anti-LGBTQ comments on Instagram, with the franchise citing “conduct detrimental to the team.”
At his ceiling, Ivey is a dynamic and explosive guard. He also has the athleticism to attack downhill as well as create off the dribble, which is precisely the profile a backcourt-depleted Lakers team craves.
But the eligibility wall that fans largely ignored made the ask a non-starter. Under the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, any player waived after the March 1 deadline is ineligible to appear on a playoff roster for a new team. And Ivey, released on March 30, falls squarely on the wrong side of that line. Furthermore, signing him would add a name to the end of a bench for the two remaining regular-season games, and then he would disappear the moment the postseason begins. Beyond eligibility, there is the matter of what Ivey actually is right now.
He played only four games in Chicago before a knee injury shut him down, and his history of a broken fibula in 2024-25 that cost him the second half of that season raised persistent questions about whether he can recapture the burst that made him a lottery pick.
The Lakers’ Real Options — and Why Fans Keep Landing on Ivey
Fans calling for Cam Thomas won’t like this part. Because the Bucks waived Thomas after the March 1 Playoff Eligibility Waiver deadline, he is not eligible to appear in the 2026 NBA Playoffs for any team that signs him. One fan on X made the point plainly: “Stop saying Cam Thomas guys he’s ineligible for the playoffs.” He has now been released by two teams in under two months, first Brooklyn, and then Milwaukee, and his NBA future now carries real question marks, as we head into the offseason.
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Feb 11, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jaden Ivey (31) brings the ball up the court against the Boston Celtics during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images
The reason fans keep gravitating toward Ivey and Thomas despite the eligibility reality is the same reason the Lakers are in this position in the first place. The realistic candidates for the open spot are Drew Timme, who has already started for them this week, and Nick Smith Jr. Neither will likely generate the same kind of hope that a former top-five pick running the pick-and-roll does. And LA needs LeBron James to carry a heavy load if they are going to survive a first round likely without both Doncic and Reaves. Jaden Ivey, for all his upside, cannot be any part of that equation, no matter how many fans wish otherwise.
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Ved Vaze