LOS ANGELES — For months, there had been uncertainty regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ eventual direction at the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
Would they invest their draft capital to improve around the LeBron James-Anthony Davis pairing? Or would they stand pat and prioritize the future? Perhaps they would split the difference with a half-measure to at least say they tried?
In the past week, the Lakers made things crystal clear: They’ve officially gone all-in on this season and the Luka Dončić-LeBron duo.
Following that league-shattering trade, Los Angeles had a glaring hole at center with Jaxson Hayes slated to start and forwards Jarred Vanderbilt and Dorian Finney-Smith backing him up as small-ball alternatives.
After tempering expectations regarding the caliber of center they could acquire ahead of the trade deadline, the Lakers traded for Mark Williams to shore up their starting lineup late on Wednesday. In exchange, they sent the Charlotte Hornets rookie Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, their 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap.
Now, the 23-year-old, 7-foot Williams will step into a pivotal starting spot, with Hayes appropriately slotted as a situational backup. The deal was another aggressive move from the Lakers.
“We’ve said all along we were willing to use our picks if the right opportunity came,” Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka told a small group of reporters ahead of the Lakers’ 120-112 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. “And I think we feel like we have two top-five, top-10 players in the world on our team right now. And just saw this as an opportunity to give those two players all the resources they need to make a playoff run.”
Just as important, the trade is an early indication to Dončić that the Lakers are invested in their partnership, trying to compete for championships as soon as possible and willing to acquire the type of players he covets.
On Monday, his first day at the Lakers’ practice facility, Dončić met with Pelinka in his office overlooking the practice court. The two discussed the Lakers’ roster and the group’s short- and long-term vision. Dončić shared that he feels he plays best next to a vertical lob threat, similar to centers he thrived alongside in Dallas like Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford and Dwight Powell.
The next day, the Lakers held the introductory news conference for Dončić. Toward the end, Pelinka said the Lakers were still looking for a center, but that the market was “dry” and the team was considering a smaller move along the margins. Those comments caused multiple teams to contact Pelinka, including the Hornets.
Williams hadn’t been a popular name in trade rumors because many, including the Lakers, viewed him as a core piece of the Hornets’ future alongside LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. But the Hornets, sensing an opportunity to try to get Dalton Knecht, a player they liked and considered as high as No. 6 in the 2024 NBA Draft, decided to make Williams available for a steep price.
The Lakers determined Williams fit Dončić’s timeline and style of play, as well as coach JJ Redick’s offensive system, and made a bold offer. Roughly 36 hours after Pelinka’s conversation with Dončić, Los Angeles acquired the type of big he wanted.
“Maybe it’s in some sense like the L.A. housing market,” Pelinka said. “Not every house is listed. And sometimes you become aware of something that’s available that’s not on the market. And when you see the perfect house, you’re willing to go get it, even if you have to be aggressive to do it.”
This season, Williams is averaging 15.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while shooting 58.6 percent overall and 78.0 percent on free throws across 23 games. He’s been even better recently during a career-best stretch, averaging 19.0 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 blocks on 54.9 percent shooting over his past 11 games.
Williams’ 9-foot-9 standing reach — the tallest ever recorded in NBA Draft Combine history and two inches better than Victor Wembanyama’s — and athleticism give him one of the best catch radiuses in the league. He’s averaging nearly three dunks per game and just over one alley-oop finish per game. He will feast on lob opportunities, dump-off dishes and pocket passes from Dončić, James and Austin Reaves.
His primary role offensively is to screen, roll, rim-run and crash the offensive glass, where his length and verticality make him effective with putbacks and tap-outs. The third-year center also has a mentor-mentee relationship with Redick, with the two bonding over their Duke connection.
“I think Luka can play a number of ways,” Redick said. “It would be very advantageous for us to have multiple centers that can provide a vertical threat, and we feel that Mark … provides that vertical threat.”
As the Lakers (30-19) jockey for position in the West, Williams balances out their rotation and gives them a respectable center against the conference’s top bigs.
“He fits that perfect archetype,” Pelinka said. “There’s a lot of teams in the West that have formidable size that are around the standings with us, Memphis and Houston and OKC. And we just felt like we needed to address that, and we felt like we got the perfect guy.”
The two biggest concerns with Williams are his defense and his injury history.
Despite averaging more than a block per game, and leveraging his massive frame and length well, he’s a below-average rim protector. He’s allowing opponents to shoot 68.1 percent at the rim — a figure worse than Rui Hachimura’s 67.1 percent. He has high hips and long legs, so he can struggle to move quickly laterally and recover when beaten off the dribble. He’s strong and sturdy, but the strongest and most physical centers can move him in the post.
“I think we as a staff have a job to do in developing him as a screener, decision-maker in the pocket and on the defensive end,” Redick said. “But we’re confident with his character, work ethic, IQ, that he’s going to be a really good player for us.”
He has never played more than 43 games in a season (he played in 23 of the Hornets’ 48 games this season). He’s missed significant time with foot, ankle and back injuries, though the Lakers aren’t concerned that any of those issues will linger.
“We fully vetted his health stuff. … He’s had no surgeries,” Pelinka said. “So these are just parts of, he’s still growing into his body.”
Considering the state of the center market — both the lack of options and the high prices — and the alternative being Hayes continuing to start, the Lakers did about as well as was reasonably possible. And when factoring they managed to add Dončić and Finney-Smith, too, this deadline is a resounding A-plus for Pelinka and the front office.
With this trade deadline, the Lakers have vaulted themselves into contender status. They have a championship-caliber duo that no team in the West will want to face in a seven-game series. In a macro sense, they have size, athleticism, versatility and enough shooting and finishing to maximize the generational playmaking skills of James and Dončić. The pairing is the best in the league, and they’ve yet to step foot on the court together as teammates.
Dončić is a top-three player — arguably a top-two player — and is singularly capable of giving the Lakers a chance to win just about any playoff series. James has been playing his best basketball of the season since the turn of the calendar year, and will now be able to conserve his offensive workload in a way he hasn’t in years (if ever). He has a history of performing better in the postseason, including as recently as last postseason.
LeBron James tonight: 42 points (14-25 FGs, 6-9 3PT, 8-10 FTs), 17 rebounds and 8 assists in 37 minutes.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) February 7, 2025
Aside from the Oklahoma City Thunder, who should be the clear favorites in the conference, the Lakers have arguably the highest ceiling among the rest of the pack. They have two nearly unsolvable problems for opposing defenses in Dončić and James, who’ve faced every defense and coverage across their combined 29 years of NBA experience, and can make every pass and read.
There are certainly flaws and concerns with the roster. They’ve remade half the rotation, which has its own learning curve. They have to figure out the hierarchy between Dončić and James, and to a lesser extent, how that affects Reaves. They could use more perimeter defense, especially in the backcourt. Williams and Hayes have never been a part of a serious playoff run. Williams’ defense limitations could force Redick to go small more often, which could backfire in certain matchups.
But after straddling the line between competing in the present and preparing for the future, the Lakers have a clear path forward — and, most importantly, a real chance to compete.
“I’m looking forward to it,” James said. “I can’t wait. Everything I do on the floor, (Dončić) just has the ability to do it, or even do it better. That’s how great he is. Even at his young age of 25, he’s such a unique player, special player, generational talent.
“So I’ll be super appreciative to be able to share the floor with him and then watch him do his thing. It’ll be good.”
(Photo of LeBron James: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
