LAKERS LUCKY TO RESCIND WILLIAMS TRADE
Lots of background coming out on the Mark Williams trade. First, Hornets approached the Lakers about Mark knowing LA was looking for a center. Second, Lakers were eager to trade for Mark because Luka was a big fan as was JJ who mentored him… https://t.co/X8Pyr4NYLC pic.twitter.com/XLFwdwLpw7
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) February 10, 2025
LAKERS LUCKY TO RESCIND WILLIAMS TRADE
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February 10, 2025 3 Comments
From above article about Bobby Marks:
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LA Lakers might benefit
ESPN trade expert Bobby Marks believes that long-term, the LA Lakers might end up being pleased the trade was voided.
He explains that the Lakers gave up too much, explaining that essentially they gave up two first round picks, with Dalton Knecht taken 17th in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Marks said: “I do think the Lakers catch a little bit of a break here, because this price was rich. I do think it was a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction to basically going out and getting Luka.
“You were getting a center for the price of two, basically two first round picks. One was a swap [2031] and Dalton Knecht for Mark Williams, was extremely, extremely rich.
“I know it might hurt them this year for the rest of the season, but I do think there will be better opportunities when we get into the off season here.”
Elaborating further, Marks said: “When you look at the expiring contracts of Hachimura, the expiring contract of Gabe Vincent, Austin Reaves will have a player option for the following year, he’s also extension eligible. Now you get your first round pick back, your swap, you’ll be able to do a lot more when maybe somebody else that becomes available. I don’t know who that is right now, but that’s the reality of it.”
https://x.com/SportsMatt12/status/1889047440474656950
Either way, they dodged a bullet and now will have more ammo to add a modern two-way center next summer. Meanwhile, I think we roll with Jax and LeBron, Do, and Wood as small ball centers. We’ll be fine. In fact, we might be better off because integrating a 23-year old center who’s new to the team would have had a lot of learning and development struggles that were going to avoid. integrating a center offseason is much easier challenge.
The one thing playing small does is allows us to bring in another long wing defender so we can pair Vando and DFS. That allows us to trap, double, and rotate rather than leaving our weak defenders alone on an island. It’s been working great and it’s exactly what we have to do so teams cannot target Reaves or Luka.