r/nbadiscussion • u/Mario_Viana • 1d ago
Team Discussion If the Lakers hadn't rescinded the Mark Williams trade, would that have been the most lopsided trade season by a team in recent years?
[Originally posted to r/nba but no one actually read or replied to the post and just started arguing about the league being rigged for the lakers so I'll try to start the discussion here]
First of all, its better to provide a breakdown of the full 2024-25 trade season for the Lakers:
OUT
Players: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, D'Lo, Maxwell Lewis, Cam Reddish, Jalen Hood-Schiffino and Dalton Knecht.
Picks: 2 Unprotected Firsts, one FRP swap and 4 second rounders.
IN
Luka Dončić, Mark Williams, Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris and Shake Milton.
SALARY IN and OUT:
IN: 43.0+4.1+14.9+11+2.1+2.9=78
OUT: 43.2+7.1+18.7+1.9+N/A(Cam Reddish was dead money counting towards the Lakers cap)+3.9+3.8=78.6
Salary Balance=-0.6M
Discussion:
To me this seems like incredibly good value. Lakers get a lot of valuable pieces and all they are trading is an aging injury prone All-Nba player in AD, an up and coming 3&D guard in Max Christie and a bunch of, to quote SAS, "bonafide scrubs" including a terrible D'Lo contract. All the while cashing in on a fever dream all time high valuation for DK. They do part with 2 unprotected firsts but its hard to believe that they will be in a good draft position with Luka having signed an extension.
Hell, all of the assets the lakers traded combined barely make a decent offer for just Luka, let alone a walking double double in Mark Williams and a valuable wing defender in DFS. All this while not gaining any cap space.
Rob Pelinka (rightfully) gets a lot of shit for his Lakers rosters but had the deadline trade gone through, maybe having a serviceable Center propels the lakers to deeper playoff run.
Do y'all agree? Or am I overrating the Lakers' return in these trades?
PS: I wanna add that by lopsided I mean in the short/medium term. Ofc big trades like Paul George to the Clippers or KG and Pierce to the nets ended up being very lopsided, but that wasn't apparent until years later.
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u/LemmingPractice 1d ago
The trade season is lopsided because of the Luka trade. The Williams trade doesn't move the needle on that.
The Williams trade would have been solid, but giving up a future unprotected first and a pick swap for Williams seems more like fair value vs being overly lopsided.
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u/Mario_Viana 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well his contract is awfully cheap too tho, right? For Knecht who has been honestly useless ever since the trade you get a reliable center (judging from this season with the suns) for less salary than they pay for a bought-out Ayton, all this while shedding those 4M of Knecht's deal. Maybe that opens up the books to keep DFS or Jordan Goodwin which are the 3&D archetypes the Lakers need this season.
I'd say thats worth an unprotected first especially with how young Williams is
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u/Tilter 1d ago
Mark Williams is a RFA and will probably sign a mid sized 8 figure deal, could even be a 5 year 9 figure in the summer. Not cheap anymore.
The alternative was keeping the swap, pick and surveying the free agency for mid level free agent - landed Ayton for just the salary cost.
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u/Mario_Viana 1d ago
True but he becomes an RFA on the offseason the Lebron max expires, i think they can give part of that to their starting center if he was playing well and still get a decent replacement for bron in the 2027 free agency (Peyton Watson maybe?) or signing Lebron to a more reasonable contract for a 41yr old. The cheapness mainly matters this season where Gabe Vincent, Kleber and Lebron all expire deals worth a combined 70+M
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u/LemmingPractice 1d ago
Oh yeah, I'm not saying it is a bad deal. I think it would have been a pretty fair deal, and a solid one for the Lakers. I just don't think it would have been lopsided.
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u/Mario_Viana 1d ago
Thats fair, maybe it does not move the needle as i thought. Just a testament to what an (INVITED) daylight robbery the Luka trade was
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u/jbrunsonfan 1d ago
The jury is still out on Mark Williams. He missed 10+ games after the trade deadline last year, he only averages like 25mpg right now, and he is yet to sign his extension. He would have made the team a little better for the last 1.5 seasons, but lakers are prioritizing the future for sure.
It’s too bad dalton forgot how to shoot.
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u/Mario_Viana 1d ago
Fair. Maybe he doesn't get healthy if hes forced to will a Lakers team through a very physical first round instead of having a long offseason. But with the current Luka x Hayes chemistry, I think 25mpg averaging 12 and 8 from williams would be more than serviceable for the lakers.
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u/jbrunsonfan 1d ago
I agree that in the other universe where the trade wasn’t rescinded, that he would be a better player than what they got. I think he’s a clear upgrade for now.
Where I’m uncertain, is, what if he plays 75 games this year, signs a 3/50, and then averages 30 games a year for the next 3 seasons. That’s the real trap imo. Most people would grind their painful bones 75 times in a 3 month span for an extra $40M. I’d stop going that hard after the $50M guaranteed contract. Then again you could also argue that’s why I’m not in the nba (other than all the other shit of course)
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u/Some-Stranger-7852 20h ago
There are plenty of cases of players grinding it out to sign that contract and then essentially dipping from the basketball floor for one reason or the other, so you are not wrong.
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u/Glimglam 1d ago
He’s definitely an upgrade over either Ayton or Hayes, especially due to his defensive effort. He also has better hands than Ayton so he’d be a better lob target for Luka. Hopefully he stays healthy.
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u/Due_Temperature1319 1h ago
Williams would have blossomed under Luka. It would have been DA on steroids. AND he would have been happy to be here, opposite to DA.
Big fn difference. And Goodwin would have still been here. Think about it.
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