The Los Angeles Lakers are short-handed at the center position. They rescinded the Mark Williams trade after he failed a medical on Feb. 9. Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood are the only senior bigs on the Lakers roster. Wood is yet to play this season as he continues to recover from knee surgery last summer.
According to three-time champion Danny Green, speaking via FanDuel TV’s ‘Run It Back,’ canceling Williams’ trade has ensured the Lakers aren’t contenders this season. Instead, the former Lakers champion believes the franchise must now begin building for the future.
“They can win some games, but they’re not in a win-now situation,” Green said. “They had great moves for the future and win-now when they had Mark Williams. But, now it’s just Luka. You gotta build around him this summer because you can’t do it now…Mark Williams was a good piece.”
JJ Redick still has LeBron James and Luka Doncic on his roster. However, the lack of genuine talent in the middle of the floor will likely cost the Lakers. Williams was supposed to give the Lakers a physical rim-runner to help anchor the defense and control the glass.
The Lakers have a full 15-man roster following the Williams trade being canceled. Therefore, the Lakers are unable to add a big man via the buyout market or free agency.
Lakers Expected to Cut a Player
One way the Lakers could give themselves some flexibility to chase a free agent big man is by cutting someone from the roster. According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, there are three players that could emerge as candidates to be cut.
“I think it’s going to be between Christian Wood, Cam Reddish and Shake Milton,” Buha said on his podcast, “Buha’s Block Podcast” on Feb. 8. “I would assume more so between Wood and Reddish.”
Wood is the most logical candidate to be cut. Pelinka could replace him with another big man who could potentially make an impact moving forward. Furthermore, swapping Wood for someone else in his position would ensure Redick doesn’t run into a logjam later in the season once Wood is back in the rotation.
Lakers Almost Traded For Jericho Sims
According to a Feb. 10 report from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, the Lakers almost traded for Jericho Sims of the New York Knicks before they became aware of Williams’ availability.
“The Lakers considered adding bruising 6-10 center Jericho Sims, sources said, before he was moved from New York to Milwaukee on Wednesday for Delon Wright as an addition to the Kyle Kuzma-for-Khris Middleton deal,” McMenamin reported. “Sims would have fit the “stuff around the margins” category that Pelinka vowed the team would explore during Doncic’s introductory news conference Tuesday because, the GM said, “the market for bigs right now … is very dry. There’s just not a lot available.”
Knowing what they know now, the Lakers are likely frustrated they didn’t pursue their original target. However, on paper, Williams projected to be the ideal long-term fit next to Doncic. Unfortunately, with the 7-foot rim-runner now off the board, Pelinka must get creative, especially if the Lakers want to compete for a championship this season.
