The Los Angeles Lakers are cashing in on the last of their trade assets.
The Lakers have acquired center Mark Williams in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets. In exchange, the Lakers are sending their prized rookie Dalton Knecht as well as veteran wing Cam Reddish to Charlotte. The Hornets are also acquiring an unprotected first-round pick in 2031 from the Lakers as well as pick swap rights in 2030.
The Lakers had two future first-round picks to work with this trade deadline season, and the first one (in 2029) went to the Dallas Mavericks as part of the blockbuster Luka Doncic-for-Anthony Davis swap. Now the Lakers are using the second pick to acquire Williams, a 7-foot big man who is just 21 years old, to help fill the frontcourt void that Davis’ departure created.
Williams’ surface numbers (16.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season) are fantastic. But it remains to be seen if that production was just because he was on a lousy team in Charlotte. He is not as much of a shot-blocker as you would expect either (1.1 blocks a game for his career), and he has already proven to be injury-prone, having yet to reach 45 games played in any of his three NBA seasons thus far.
That said, Williams does great work around the rim and on the glass and should settle in nicely as an alley-oop partner for both Doncic and LeBron James. The Lakers were extremely high on Knecht, the former Tennesee sharpshooter who had been scoring 9.4 points per game for them on 35.8 percent shooting from three as a rookie. But now Knecht has been sent packing to address the bigger area of need at the Lakers’ center position.
In the past, Williams had shared a notable connection with Michael Jordan. But now he will be headed to Los Angeles to play with another NBA GOAT candidate in James.
