You may or may not remember, but this past regular season was pretty wild. Pretty much as soon as Luka Dončić was traded, things went off the rails. Coaches were fired, trades were made, Pistons made a No. 6 seed … crazy times.
But I want you to remember back to a specific point. Somewhere between Luka being acquired and the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers almost acquired Mark Williams.
I say almost acquired like it was a Danny Ainge, “we were so close to 15 trades, but we just couldn’t make it over the finish line” move. In the case of Mark Williams, the Lakers were going to send out their first for the center before voiding the trade due to a physical.
There were hard feelings. After the Lakers lost last night, Mark Williams posted this:
🙂
— Mark Williams (@MarkWi1liams) May 1, 2025
And he had all the reason to. When Dorian Finney-Smith fouled out last night, JJ Redick looked at his bench and decided that the move was not to go with a big like Jaxson Hayes or Alex Len. He went with Gabe Vincent.
The Los Angeles Lakers need a big
Or perhaps two.
As we saw in the near Mark Williams trade, this is something the team has noticed as well. We’ve also seen a package they’re willing to put together in order to bring someone in: last year’s first round pick in Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish (who has been waived already), a 2031 unprotected first-round pick, and a 2030 pick swap. They’re willing to move some pieces.
Once again, they’re aided by the fact Nico Harrison only wanted one first round pick for Luka H*cking Dončić. They have some wiggle room here in that regard. They also have a few $11 million expiring contracts.
Hopefully they can get it done. They seem to know it's a need and have the stuff to do it. It's just a matter of having a target and an amenable team to work with.