by The Los Angeles Lakers landed Luka Doncic at the weekend, but the pressure to bring the future face of the franchise on board left them with an unbalanced schedule that desperately needed to tweak. On Wednesday evening they took their first real step in that direction. In a surprising trade, they landed the third year Charlotte Hornets Center Mark Williams in exchange for Dalton servant, Cam Reddish, a first round Swap in 2030 and an unprotected first round pick in 2031.
The relocation cannot register as a earth displaying by the exalted standard that this deadline has set, but it is extremely important for the Lakers in both the present and the future. Williams currently comes in as the center replacement for Anthony Davis, who now plays for the Dallas Mavericks. For the long term, Williams thinks as one of Doncic’s core teammates, while the Lakers are trying to build a sustainable winner around their new MVP candidate. So how did the Lakers and Hornets do in this deal? Let’s judge it below.
Get Lakers:
Get hornets:
- Dalton servant
- Cam Cam Roody
- 2030 First Round Pickwap
- 2031 unprotected first round pick
Lakers: B+
During the introductory press conference of Doncic on Tuesday, Lakers mentioned General Manager Rob Pelinka versatility, mobility and the possibility of catching lob’s as the most important properties he was looking for in a center for his new cornerstone. Behind the scenes, Doncic reportedly shared with the Lakers how valuable it was for him to play with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II in Dallas, centers that have those characteristics. That probably forced the Lakers to find a similar player.
They did this in Williams, an elite seven-footer who should immediately fit with Doncic and LeBron James. Williams has an average of almost 16 points per game this season, and almost all of them come from Schoten by teammates in Pick-and-Roll. As a reminder, he previously played for the Lage Hornets. Now he has two of the largest pick-and-roll players in the NBA history by his side. He is a strong offensive rebounder who brings misses back from his teammates, and he runs the floor well enough to grab free points in transition. The attacking fit here is a no-brainer. That he is also a very underestimated passer -by who plays from the short role is just a bonus.
The immediate questions come to defense. Williams has one or two highlights per game so that you remain convinced that he is on his way to all defensive selections. According to Craftednba, he has the 10th longest wing overvest in the NBA at 7-6.5. Players who are big should not be able to move as well as he. He has all the tools he needs to excel defensively. It just didn’t happen yet. Too often he is caught from position or covered on a back cutter. In all honesty for Williams, he is a young center that plays in a bad team. Think about how much better Gafford has come in Dallas. He was an overwhelming defender with the wizards, but almost immediately grew into a high-end edge protector on the Mavericks. Williams should get better with both age and time in a better environment. The Lakers will have to keep him responsible, but there is no reason to believe that he cannot grow into a strong defensive center.
So why a “B+” instead of an “A?” A few reasons. Health is the largest. Williams played only 85 games during his first three seasons. A back injury ruined its second season a year ago. Foot injuries have lingered this season. The Lakers reportedly have faith in his medical means, but every time a player has missed so much time, he must be considered a health risk.
Now a certain degree of risk is a necessary part of building selection. What makes this risk so scary for the Lakers is that they were already quite limited in the assets with which they had to work. They owed a first round on the Hawks of the Davis Trade and another to the jazz of the Russell Westbrook-trade. They gave the Mavericks their 2029 first round pick to get Doncic, and their 2024 first round pick, servant, now plays for the Hornets.
The Lakers are now up to four relatively lean tradable migratory assets. They can offer their own 2025 second round pick, exchange rights to their picks in the first round in 2026 and 2028, and the protected part of their 2027 pick can be fully traded (in essence, the Lakers can tell a team: ” You get our choice if it lands between No. 1 and No. 4 “). This was the kind of shot they could only take once. If it doesn’t work, they can not only exchange more choices to solve the problem.
However, the downside is that Williams still has a Rookie deal and is therefore fairly cheap. The Lakers may not have many choices to act, but they have a lot of cap -flexibility. Other center goals, such as Nicolas Kaxton or Clint Capela, would almost certainly have cost Hachimura as a matching salary. Now Hachimura is still in place, either as a trading ship to fill another hole or a player who can now help the team.
A bit ahead, the Lakers hardly have a salary on their books for the 2026 out of season. Both Williams and Austin Reaves have small dop paves and free agents if they are not extended in advance (and Reaves will almost certainly not be), so that will give the Lakers room to drastically reform that grid at that time. Heck, James could even leave a little money on the table this summer with his player option, because he offered to do last summer if the right goal occurs.
So yes, the Lakers are quite limited in the field of assets, and that prevents them from getting an “A” here given the risk that Williams is associated with. The reward to get a player so good, this young and this compatible with the existing selection, however, deserves very strong figures. Rob Pelinka has one deadline.
Hornets: B
Rarely makes it logical for a reconstruction team to give an emerging 23-year-old away as the Hornets have with Williams here, but in the specific situation of Charlotte it is a fairly defensible decision. To begin with, the Hornets have become more and more dependent on the Moussa Diabate Center since the trade Nick Richards. He has been fantastic for them in that piece. Charlotte – Yes, Charlotte – Has a plus-7.1 net rating with him on the floor after the rich trade and a plus-5.9 net rating with him for the season as a whole. Many statistics suggest that this season he is one of the best defensive Bigs per minute in the NBA. He still has a long way to go, but this trade can easily be a voice of trust in diabate instead of any form of charging against Williams. At a certain point they can be signed at a certain point for a multi -year deal.
Secondly, it is reasonable that the Hornets specifically have a lower appetite for risk than the Lakers. Nobody drops Luka Doncic on their lap. If they sign Williams for a long -term expansion and he cannot stay healthy, they will not be easy to find or develop a replacement. Players want to play for the Lakers. That will especially be true now that Doncic is there. Even with their limited remaining assets, they simply have access to a broader talent pool than most of the competition, and that allows them to take opportunities that other teams would not do. The Hornets already have an injury-sensitive Star Point Guard in Lamelo Ball. Making up a injuries center at the peak of its value is logical.
And finally, the Hornets are still very early in this rebuilding. From that perspective, it makes sense that they want to stay a little more fluid from an activist spective. Their new Front Office has gathered an impressive range of choices since he took over two summers ago. They have incoming first round Picks from the Mavericks (from the PJ Washington Deal), the Heat (Terry Rozier) and now the Lakers. The Hornets are still figuring out what kind of team they want to build. With this step they have given themselves much more flexibility to do that, and they have added a Rookie -Scherpschutter in servant with two years of team control than Williams.
So yes, the Lakers get the best player in this trade, but the deal as a whole was mutually beneficial. Williams becomes more valuable with Doncic than he would probably have been to Charlotte, and the Hornets made use of it to achieve a good return for their young center.
