LAKERS POST 2025 TRADE DEADLINE FALLOUT

WRITTEN + EDITED BY JORDYN BONTRAGER

*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN/PUBLISHED WITHIN THE HOUR OF REPORTS THAT THE MARK WILLIAMS TRADE HAS BEEN RESCINDED*

Now that the dust from a wild 2025 NBA trade deadline has officially settled, can we all take a moment to apologize to Rob Pelinka for ever having doubted his decision-making in the past?

The Lakers were 18-13 just a few days prior to the New Year, but some injury issues prevented the full roster from reaching it’s full potential. At full health, this was a team with the outline of a fringe contender:

PG | Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Jalen Hood-Schifino

SG | Max Christie, Gabe Vincent, Bronny James

SF | Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht, Maxwell Lewis

PF | LeBron James, Jarred Vanderbilt, Cam Reddish

C | Anthony Davis, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes

In spite of their moderate success, it was a matter of when over if they would make some changes. The first domino, which wound up as the team’s quietest move despite being one of the loudest across the entire NBA landscape throughout trade SZN, dropped on December 29th in the following form:

IN = Dorian Finney-Smith + Shake Milton

OUT = D’Angelo Russell + Maxwell Lewis + 3x Second-Round Picks

It was the type of trade that sent some subtle shock waves across the association, and filled a major void for a team desperately needing some gritty, battle-tested 3&D talent on the wing. Thankfully for this fanbase, DFS is one of the NBA’s most well-renowned specialists in that specific player prototype. His injection alone was an automatic boost for this rotation, and adding in a veteran combo guard of Milton’s nature for spot minutes off the pine should not be slept on either.

In all reality, Rob Pelinka probably could have been comfortable in terms of job security from the moment that news broke of that acquisition. He could have kicked off his shoes and let LeBron ride off into the sunset as is, but unfortunately this team still simply did not have enough to get them back into any conversations pertaining to full-fledged championship contenders. They needed another swing or two, with most assuming any additional adjustments would be done so with single/double intentions.

Robby P had his sights set on the fences, however, and went yard in epic proportions.

LeBron James has played with some of the greatest to ever play the game, with guys like Dwayne Wade + Kyrie Irving + Anthony Davis + Kevin Love + Chris Bosh standing out as some of the more prominent names in the LBJ former teammate club. Now, the name of the most dominant player ever listed on the same NBA depth chart as LeBron is not reflected in that previous sentence.

With just a few days left prior to the 2025 trade deadline, the entire basketball world almost seemed to stand still as everyone embraced the most stunning blockbuster in NBA history:

IN = Luka Doncic + Maxi Kleber + Markieff Morris

OUT = Anthony Davis + Max Christie + Jalen Hood-Schifino + 2029 First-Round Pick

If you are anything like us, it probably took you some time to fully catch your breath from this. It was one of those headlines that you had to re-read numerous times to make sense of what you were digesting. In all actuality, it still does not feel real. Nobody in their rightful mind could have anticipated an atom bomb of this magnitude.

Luka Doncic is unquestionably a top 5 active basketball player in the world, and Pelinka picked him up without giving up multiple First-Round picks? Like….. what?

Everyone seemed complacent with accepting that Anthony Davis was the future of this franchise, but has anyone ever truly been 100% confident in him piloting the post-Bron era? The soon-to-be 32-year-old All-Star resides unquestionably among the frontcourt elites, but his plagued injury history and recent self-centered commentary with the media did him no favors in terms of organizational trust. There is no world that exists in which this team will not miss AD’s presence on both ends of the floor, and do not even get us started on our plea for Max Christie’s rescission from this swap.

But when you get an offer for a generational 25-year-old (26 at the end of this month) talent of transcendent fashion such as Doncic, you would be bonkers to turn it down. We could go on for days about Luka’s pure manhandling of his peers across 7x seasons, but his acknowledgements speak for themselves: 2019 NBA Rookie of the Year + 5x All-Star + 5x All-NBA First Team + 2024 NBA Scoring Champion (not to mention his nod as the MVP of the EuroLeague in MVP at the age of just 19).

There were no sure-fire words which could adequately justify how big this move was at the time, but one thing which was abundantly obvious was the freshly reshaped roster’s dire need for a big body to fill Davis’s former spot in the starting unit. Would it be Jonas Valanciunas? Or Clint Capela? Or Robert Williams III? Or Nic Claxton? Or Myles Turner?

Anyone of those guys would have been perfectly suitable candidates for the position, yet somehow Robby P managed to reach back into his bag of tricks to score a frontcourt body who seems even more prime for the part than any of the aforementioned 5’s.

IN = Mark Williams

OUT = Dalton Knecht + Cam Reddish + 2029 First-Round Pick

From common NBA fans to LeBron James himself, people were puzzled that the Lakers were able to pull this one off as well. At 7’0”+ 240 pounds (+ an extra-terrestrial 7’7” wingspan) and only the age of the 23), Williams has progressively gotten better and better each year through his first 3x NBA campaigns. Currently in the midst of his latest leap year, his output has certainly supported MW’s case as a frontcourt cornerstone piece for the future: 25.0 MPG | 15.6 PPG | 9.6 RPG | 2.5 APG | 1.2 BPG | 0.7 SPG | 58.6% FG | 0% 3FG x 0 attempts | 78.0% FT. Mark Williams is by no means Anthony Davis, but he is equipped with the shell of a player who can admirably follow in his footsteps towards frontcourt success in Los Angeles.

A team with some glaring areas of need just a few weeks back now has no major issues on paper, but could/should/will look to the impending buyout market for further shooting and/or perimeter support on the defensive end (Williams’ former teammates Seth Curry + Cody Martin seem like crystal clear options for Pelinka to monitor as the Hornets continue losing games). Remember that initial rotation listed towards the top of this tab? It is almost as if it never even existed.

What do you think, does this replenished roster have the tools to bring another Larry O’Brien trophy to Tinseltown?

PG | Luka Doncic, Gabe Vincent

SG | Austin Reaves, Shake Milton, Bronny James

SF | Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura, Markieff Morris

PF | LeBron James, Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber

C | Mark Williams, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes

*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN/PUBLISHED WITHIN THE HOUR OF REPORTS THAT THE MARK WILLIAMS TRADE HAS BEEN RESCINDED*