After failed Mark Williams trade, what's next for the Lakers' big-man plans?

No one had a trade deadline week quite like the Los Angeles Lakers.

They pulled off one of the most surprising and consequential trades in NBA history by trading Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick for Luka Dončić, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris on Feb. 1.

Then, on Wednesday, they acquired a young, talented big to pair with Dončić in Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams, in exchange for Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a 2031 first-round pick and 2030 pick swap. Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, coach JJ Redick and LeBron James all spoke highly of Williams, his fit within the offense, and how his length helps them defensively and on the glass.

Late on Saturday, the Lakers announced they had rescinded the deal because of the Hornets’ “failure to satisfy a condition of the trade.” Williams failed his physical, according to team sources.

What does this all mean for the Lakers? And what’s next this season — and beyond?

The Athletic’s Jovan Buha and Sam Vecenie discuss the fallout of the failed Williams transaction, the Lakers’ short- and long-term plans with the roster, why this could be a blessing in disguise and more.

Jovan Buha: Sam, this situation is wild. I’ve covered a lot of stories as a Lakers beat reporter but never something like this.

The Lakers were ecstatic they had landed Williams. They felt he was a notable upgrade over Jaxson Hayes and could grow alongside Dončić for years to come. Now, they’re left with Hayes — who’s been solid lately filling in for Davis but merely a backup — and a couple of two-way centers in a conference loaded with good big men. They could — and probably will — sign a buyout or free-agent center. But the options are underwhelming, they’d have to waive a current player and eat the money, and those types of players rarely make a difference in the playoffs.

What is your immediate reaction to the fallout of this deal? I know you had some, let’s say, reservations about the trade. Is there any silver lining for the Lakers in the short- or long-term?

Sam Vecenie: I don’t think there is a silver lining for this season. This will be an exceedingly difficult problem to solve for the postseason, and the Lakers need to hope they don’t run into the Nuggets again. The Lakers have been defending drastically better with these smaller lineups, though, and I’m excited to find out if that can continue with Dončić in the fold.

But this is going to be a long-term blessing in disguise. There were just far too many questions about Williams given the cost to acquire him. He’s been an injury risk throughout his entire career, missing games with various ankle, foot and back injuries through two-and-a-half years. He’s played 85 games out of a possible 213. Undeniably, Williams has a ton of potential given his mammoth 9-foot-9 standing reach and great hands on the interior. He would have put up big numbers with Dončić and LeBron James.

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But that production tends to come with real money, too. Williams is extension eligible this summer before potentially hitting restricted free agency in the summer of 2026. One thing I did like about this deal is that Williams was slated to have an $18 million cap hold on the Lakers books for the summer of 2026, and if he had played well the team could have taken him to free agency, used about $50 million in cap space, and then used his Bird rights and go over the cap to retain him. But paying someone who has played in about one-third of his possible games is a massive risk as you’re building around Dončić and moving into a new era of Lakers basketball post-LeBron.

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Vecenie: After Luka Dončić trade, Lakers should be thinking about summer 2026

The biggest reason why I didn’t love this deal for the Lakers was merely the opportunity cost. After the Dončić trade, the Lakers became asset-depleted. Outside of the James, Dončić and Austin Reaves trio, all they had left were pick swaps, Knecht and their 2031 first-round pick. I don’t think using both Knecht and the 2031 first-rounder in the same deal for a player who has serious question marks was the right choice. If this deal had gone through and Williams ended up getting hurt, they were pretty locked in to either trying to turn around and flip him again for less value, or to doubling down on him.

And this is before we even get to the defensive side of the ball, where I also had significant questions about Williams.

Buha: We’ve landed in a similar spot, though I think I was a bit higher on Williams’ potential fit.

For this season, I think the loss of Williams lowers the Lakers’ postseason ceiling. No one will want to see Dončić and James together in a seven-game series. Still, I don’t think they have the requisite interior size, rim protection or defensive rebounding to compete with Boston, Oklahoma City or Cleveland, to say nothing of Denver, Houston, etc. To offset their physical disadvantages, their small-ball lineups will need to be lethal — which they have been since acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith and the return of Jarred Vanderbilt — and they’ll need Dončić, James and Reaves to collectively defend at a higher level than they have this season.

To your point, they’d already struggled against Denver’s frontline with Davis. Now they will start those games with Hayes on Nikola Jokić. Hayes has played well recently, but he’s slight, foul-prone and can struggle to wall off drives and to contest straight-up. For as flawed and limited as Williams is, particularly on the defensive end, I have much more confidence in him in that spot than Hayes (or leaning on smaller lineups). Williams played against Jokić on Feb. 1 and dropped 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. He blocked Jokić once and disrupted several of his other shots around the paint.

At least in the scope of this season, this was as much about improving on Hayes and appeasing Dončić as anything. Pelinka made it clear that Dončić expressed the importance of playing with a lob threat like he did in Dallas. With Dončić up for an extension this summer, and potential free agency in 2026, the Lakers wanted to send a clear message that this is Dončić’s organization moving forward and that they’re willing to build whatever type of roster he wants.

What was your biggest concern with Williams defensively?

Vecenie: I had concerns with basically every single aspect of Williams’ defense.

He’s not nearly as impactful at the basket as his standing reach and height would indicate. With him in the game, Charlotte’s opponents scored 117.5 points per 100 possessions, versus just 110.9 when he’s off the court. Williams also allowed opponents to shoot 66.1 percent at the rim last season and has allowed opponents to shoot 68.2 percent at the rim this season, per Second Spectrum. His positioning and understanding of angles in ball screens is quite poor, and his footwork on the perimeter is egregiously bad.

Here’s a prime example recently against the Washington Wizards, where you really see how his slow processing speed and lack of footwork dovetail calamitously into issues.

His motor does not seem to run particularly hot, either. Even when he’s at the rim, he doesn’t have much upward explosion, and he doesn’t really disrupt anything opponents do.

I’m willing to hear that he has defensive upside. The Hornets have been horrific on defense the last few years, and Williams got hung out to dry with players attacking him. But unlike PJ Washington, who had shown real positive defensive moments in Charlotte and just had turned the motor off by the end of his tenure there, Williams doesn’t have positive tape to fall back on. Plus, his issues are far more numerous on defense than Washington’s were at a more impactful, important defensive position. He may improve with new coaching, or simply with more experience. But the injury history gives you pause about him getting those reps to improve.

The offensive upside with Dončić and James was enormous. But I’m skeptical that he could have played in a playoff series much more effectively than Hayes because, despite all of your concerns about Hayes, he’s better with his angles and perimeter movement than Williams. Or at least better than what Williams has shown to this point.

Buha: I hear you on the laundry list of concerns. His hip mobility, lateral movement, closeout technique and decision-making on rotations were all troublesome, just to name a few areas. I’ve watched far too much Synergy tape on him, and that end was largely discouraging, though I also saw the potential for improvement with better guidance and development.

Hayes has played well recently as a spot-starter, especially defensively. He’s looked more comfortable in Redick’s system and has been more disruptive on drives and around the rim. I just worry about how his frame will hold up in the post and battle in the paint. Those are both areas I think Williams has notable advantages over him — and areas of importance for a Lakers center. The Lakers have been trying to get away with smaller defenders guarding centers in the post and having Hayes double or roam, but I fear that won’t work against the Nuggets or Rockets.

I had an agent tell me Sunday night that he thinks the Lakers should’ve acquired another cheaper center in a separate move around the time of the Williams deal just as insurance. Now, the Lakers will have to scour an underwhelming buyout and free-agent market to try to add a center who’s almost certainly worse than Hayes (or in the absolute best-case scenario, at a similar level to him).

It’s easy to nitpick in hindsight, but what do you think the Lakers could have or should have done to protect themselves from this disastrous scenario?

Jaxson Hayes has played well recently, but the Lakers need more than him inside for the playoffs. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)

Vecenie: The better play, in my view, was to try and acquire a lower-cost center like a Day’Ron Sharpe from Brooklyn and get out of the first apron by dumping someone like Maxi Kleber into another team’s space. My read before the deadline was that the Nets’ asking price on Sharpe wasn’t that high. He isn’t a tremendous fit with Dončić in terms of rim-running (his biggest deficiency as a big right now is his finishing on the interior). But he’s a big body who is a great rebounder and good passer. I also probably would have kicked the tires on players like Kevon Looney, Goga Bitadze, Steven Adams, Santi Aldama, Luke Kornet, Jericho Sims and Xavier Tillman. The Lakers almost certainly did gauge the price points on a few of these players. But Sharpe makes the most sense to me because salary is low, and his restricted free agency this summer seems like a question mark. I wonder if the Lakers would have been able to sign him to something in the ballpark of a two-year, $22 million deal with a team option on the second season, maintaining ultimate flexibility for the summer of 2026.

The Lakers then could have looked for another perimeter player or rolled those assets over into the summer. I think people are underestimating the level to which the Lakers could use the threat of having Dončić and max cap space in 2026 against teams with prospective free agents over the next two years. Agents around the league could use this as significant leverage to strike extensions with their incumbent teams or shake a high-level player loose to play for the Lakers.

Buha: That seems to be where this is all heading — summer 2026. There had been optimism on the Lakers’ side that they could both contend in the short term and maintain long-term flexibility to find that second star to team with Dončić in 2026, assuming James retires by then (or is at least open to a discounted salary). But it appears that their most direct path to a more competitive roster will come either this offseason, when they could pursue another center with upwards of $40 million in expiring contracts, one first-round pick and up to four pick swaps, or again in the summer of 2026, when they could have max cap space.

Regarding the potential buyout or free-agent options, are there any players you like? The names are, uh, not great. I think I like Daniel Theis the best of those available, though he’s undersized at 6-foot-8. Mo Bamba is another interesting name, though he’s a former Laker and had a relatively disappointing stint. Otherwise, it’s hoping Larry Nance Jr., Kelly Olynyk and/or Chris Boucher is bought out, with all three of those seeming relatively unlikely as of now.

Of note: The Lakers have 15 players and have to waive a player to create a roster spot. They can waive up to two minimum players with expiring salary and sign two free agents while remaining under the second apron (they’re $1.6 million under the apron). Since they’re a first-apron team, they can’t sign a buyout player who was previously making more than the non-taxpayer midlevel exception of $12.8 million.

The Lakers clearly can’t go into the postseason with Hayes as their only center (remember, two-way centers like Christian Koloko and Trey Jemison III are ineligible to play in the playoffs unless the Lakers convert them to an official roster spot). Something has to happen over the next two to three weeks.

Vecenie: There are a few places the Lakers could look. Bigs tend to get signed to two-way deals quickly, which depletes the G League market. The best available option there might be former UCLA product Moses Brown, who is averaging 16 points and 14 rebounds per game but isn’t much of a defender. Beyond him, Frank Kaminsky is playing for the Raptors’ G League team and has been solid, shooting 50 percent from the field, 38 percent from 3 and 80 percent from the line. Colin Castleton is probably the next best big currently not on a two-way, and Lakers fans have been down that road before. So, yeah, it’s unlikely they’re going to find a playoff guy there.

The second place they could look is the buyout market, and that is obviously much more speculative and frankly gets extremely narrow unless we get a couple of surprises. Alex Len just signed with the Pacers after being bought out by the Wizards, reducing the options here already.

Nance is, by far, the best possible name as a solid defender and high-IQ player who does a little bit of everything including shooting, but league sources throughout the year have been quite clear that Atlanta coach Quin Snyder is a big fan of him. I’d be surprised if he gets bought out, but he’s worth bringing up first. Boucher, who is averaging 10.5 points and 4.3 rebounds, is next. He’s a good shooter with length on defense, but is quite skinny. Toronto Raptors general manager Bobby Webster has said that he doesn’t anticipate buying out Boucher. Bamba has already been bought out by the Jazz, and I’d expect him to latch on somewhere. He might be the best option if neither Boucher nor Nance get cut loose.

The final place to look is on the international market. I don’t have expertise on the European marketplace in terms of the players who have contractual outs in their deals midseason. However, the Australian NBL’s regular season just ended this past weekend, making several players potentially available. The best is Tasmania center Will Magnay, who has an NBA out clause and has garnered recent interest from NBA teams. The backup center on the Australian national team, Magnay is a bit undersized and has dealt with injury issues — he missed the back half of this season with a fractured toe — but when he’s on the court, he’s tremendously impactful. He was clearly on his way to an All-NBL season before his injury and is a terrific defensive player thanks to his strength, footwork and positioning. If I were the Lakers, I would probably sign Magnay to a team-friendly deal and see what happens. He is an awesome teammate to have around the locker room, he should be fresh from having sat out the last six weeks of action, and he would bring a real degree of physicality that they currently lack.

My recommendation for the Lakers would be to cut Christian Wood and Markieff Morris and sign Magnay and Bamba, unless a bigger name surprisingly gets cut loose. It’s probably not enough to solve the issue in the playoffs, but it would improve their center situation overall.

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(Top photo of Mark Williams playing against the Lakers last month: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)