After their trade for Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams fell through, the Los Angeles Lakers are moving on to another seven-footer.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Tuesday that the Lakers plan to sign veteran big man Alex Len in free agency. Charania notes that Len, 31, had originally intended to sign with the Indiana Pacers but changed his mind due to the Lakers’ failed trade for Williams creating an opportunity in the frontcourt.
The Lakers are also reportedly waiving injured center Christian Wood to make room for Len on their roster.
Len was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. After later playing for the Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, and Washington Wizards, Len had spent the last four seasons with the Sacramento Kings. But Len was traded back to the Wizards at this year’s deadline as part of the multi-team Marcus Smart deal and was promptly waived by Washington.
This season for the Kings, Len was averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in under eight minutes per game off the bench. The last time that he saw meaningful rotational time was in 2021-22 when Len averaged 6.0 points and 4.1 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per game for Sacramento.
Len is a career-long backup who doesn’t have much upside. But the Lakers badly need another seven-footer around as they are rolling with just Jaxson Hayes and Trey Jemison III as their go-to center duo at the moment.
The 32-19 Lakers thought that they had their center of the future in the form of Williams, whose failed trade saga has taken another ugly turn. Instead though, the Lakers are now turning to an older and lower-upside but immediately-available big body in the form of the ex-University of Maryland star Len.
