The Los Angeles Lakers made a secondary impact acquisition at the NBA trade deadline after Luka Doncic by adding center Mark Williams in exchange for Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, L.A.’s 2031 unprotected first-round draft pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap.
Williams fits the mold of the type of center that Doncic loved playing with in Dallas, a vertical lob threat that has shown solid defensive instincts, although playing in Charlotte certainly didn’t help his metrics on that end of the floor. But the hope is that next to Doncic and LeBron James, his potential at just 23 years old can be unlocked.
It was obviously a whiplash of a trade deadline for the Lakers, who are looking ahead at a much more certain future than they were one week ago. And while LeBron recovers from the whole ordeal, one of the biggest things he still had to process was how the Lakers were able to land the talented Williams from Charlotte.
“I haven’t had time to like breathe or really wrap my head around it,” James said. “Obviously, young, athletic big. He’s gonna give us another lob threat, along with Jaxson [Hayes]. Looking forward to getting him here, and I think I was surprised that we was able to get him, to be completely honest. Just seeing his length, seeing how young he is. He’s 23 years old. So looking forward to getting here to get him acclimated to our to our system, and looking forward to what he brings to the table.”
There are injury and defensive concerns with Williams, but with the high risk comes an extremely high reward of adding an offensively gifted center next to Doncic for the foreseeable future. And LeBron is the perfect player to get the best out of both and get them acclimated to each other and the Lakers.
This move could net the Lakers championship contention in 2025, but it certainly sets them up for an exciting future if Williams can stay healthy.
Rob Pelinka believes Mark Williams is perfect fit
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka made the Mark Williams trade after a discussion with Luke Doncic, believing that the former Hornets center is the exact type of player that fits well next to L.A.’s new 25-year-old superstar. This is both in play style and in timeline.
Pelinka surrendered nearly all of the team’s remaining tradeable draft capital, so the risk-reward becomes even greater with Williams in L.A.
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