The Los Angeles Lakers just made their first follow-up deal to the blockbuster trade that brought Luka Doncic to town in a swap with the Dallas Mavericks that shipped out Anthony Davis. Shams Charania of ESPN reports that the Lakers have landed Mark Williams in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets, sending out Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, their 2031 first-round pick, and a 2030 first-round pick swap.
Williams is only 23 years old and is not positioned to be the Lakers’ center of the future, playing alongside Doncic moving forward. It’s a solid move that will enhance the future of the organization.
But it’s also a huge slap in the face to Davis.
Lakers trade for Mark Williams to fulfill Luka Doncic's request proves they didn't believe in Anthony Davis
For years, the Lakers planned to have Davis as the centerpiece of their future. Their post-LeBron James franchise player. He was the future. Yet they never listened to any of his requests.
Davis begged for the Lakers to trade for a center so he could play power forward, but they never did. He constantly asked them to make moves, yet they continued forward without listening to his requests.
Yet just a few days into his tenure as a Laker, Doncic already had more pull than Davis ever did. They jumped into action immediately after he told them what he wanted.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the Lakers met with Doncic soon after the deal was completed, and he told them that he wanted to play with an athletic, rim-running big man.
“After huddling with Luka Doncic after the trade, he impressed upon Lakers’ brass his desire to play with a lob threat, mobile big whose vertical spacing gives Doncic another option when making his reads, sources told ESPN,” McMenamin wrote in a tweet.
Mere days after Doncic was traded from the Mavs to the Lakers and had this meeting, LA has already fulfilled his request. It took them days to listen to Doncic after refusing Davis’ requests for years.
Now, Williams is a Hornet, set to play the very position that Davis once occupied for the purple and gold.
They believe more in a future with Doncic than they ever did regarding a future with Davis. Perhaps they never believed in Davis as the future of the organization. At the very least, they didn’t trust the vision enough to listen to his desires.
Doncic is a different story. And that has to be a brutal reality for Davis to stomach.
