The NBA’s trade deadline is coming up over the next few days and there is plenty of speculation surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers. In particular, veteran guard Lou Williams has drawn plenty of attention.
The Lakers have reportedly been shopping their leading scorer ahead of the deadline which makes sense. Head coach Luke Walton has gone more towards a youth movement and Williams with his amazing ability to score, and cheap contract, is a prime target for many playoff teams.
With all of the speculation surrounding him, Williams was asked about the rumors following the Lakers’ 97-96 loss to the Kings, but didn’t sound too worried about the possibility of being traded at all (via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters):
Lou Williams when asked about the trade speculation leading up to the deadline: "Just go out and hoop, let the powers that be deal with it."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) February 15, 2017
With the Lakers having another game on Wednesday in Phoenix, Williams’ focus is solely on getting a win before the All-Star Break.
“Definitely want to get the win, especially with a week off. A lot of the times if you lose a basketball game, you want to have the opportunity to redeem it in the next day or so. This last game, we don’t have that opportunity. We’re going to have to sit on that for a week, so it would be great to go down there and get a win going into the break.”
After the game against the Suns, the Lakers will officially hit the All-Star break and won’t play again until next Friday, which is after the trade deadline. Wednesday’s contest could be Williams’ final as a Laker.
Williams certainly helped his trade value with a 29 point, five assist performance against the Kings on Tuesday. Whether or not he remains with the team for the rest of the year is up in the air, but for now Williams is only worried about the next game.
