It was a huge story in the NBA when the Los Angeles Lakers decided to rescind the trade for Mark Williams. They declined to bring him in after seeing his physical.
Doing that left a big hold on the Lakers’ roster. Even though Jaxson Hayes has played some of the best basketball of his career, catching lobs from Luka Doncic, he is not the rim-protector that they desperately need.
The Lakers don’t have a lot of guys who are defense-first guys in their starting lineup. That could cause some issues for them in the playoffs.
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One NBA insider believes that the Lakers are going to regret making the decision to not bring Williams in. Speaking on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Chris Vernon thinks it was a mistake for the Lakers to not let that trade go through.
“I think they’re gonna regret calling off the Mark Williams thing. Not that he’s like frigging Bill Russell, but my God, they have nothing at the rim. Nothing.“I think Memphis had damn near 70 points in the paint last night. I mean, there’s just [nothing] once you drive past them, Reaves, you can drive past, and LeBron, you know, is not the defensive stalwart that he once was. Maybe that’ll change to the playoffs… There’s nobody really there to dissuade you. They’ll play Jaxson Hayes, they’ll play Vando, they’ll play whoever…. Somebody that could get to the basket a lot is gonna give them problems.”
It’s clear that there are a lot of people around the league who are worried about the Lakers’ defense moving forward. They have a lot offensively, but the defense in the playoffs is what helps teams win championships.
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The way the Lakers are constructed, they are hoping that they can just outscore teams. They aren’t as worried about the defensive component of things.
With Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves all on the roster, that makes sense. Still, Vernon has concerns about defense with them when the games start to tighten up.
Williams is averaging 15.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game.
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