Lakers: 3 Reasons the Lakers Should Trade Lou Williams Now
By Eric Yee
With the NBA lighting up Wednesday with a number of trades, the time for the Los Angeles Lakers to trade Lou Williams is now
Don’t get me wrong, I love Lou Williams. Any person who could have two significant others who know about one another without them clawing each other’s eyes out deserves a medal, but in regards to basketball, the time to trade him is now.
As of late, the Purple and Gold have shown a reluctance to trade their players with their last move coming when they picked up Roy Hibbert last season and prior to that in July 2014 when they acquired Jeremy Lin and two draft picks for the rights to Sergei Lishchuk, a player they desperately hope doesn’t turn into the next Marc Gasol.
Though the team has been involved in their fair share of rumors, especially around the trade deadline, for whatever reason, they have been unwilling to unload any of their players.
One day before the NBA Draft and fresh off of the trades of Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks and Jeff Teague to the Indiana Pacers, the time to make a move is now. Here are three quick reasons why the Lakers should trade Lou Williams as soon as possible.
If D. Rose and George Hill Could Fetch That…
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Upon seeing the trades on Wednesday morning, the question that immediately occurred to me was if the Utah Jazz were willing to essentially trade the 12th pick in the upcoming draft for George Hill, then why couldn’t the Lakers do something similar with Lou Will?
Looking at their contracts side by side, Hill, Teague and Williams all have comparable salary numbers, the only difference being that Williams is signed for two seasons instead of having an expiring contract. That said, he is also getting paid a million dollars less than each of them ($8 mil vs $7 mil per year).
Further, why the New York Knicks would allow Derrick Rose to gobble up $21 million of their salary while trading away Robin Lopez and Jerian Grant is mind boggling, though their long term contracts could have something to do with this.
He’s Completely Expendable
Looking down LA’s roster you see six players — D’Angelo Russell, Lou Williams, Nick Young, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr.and Anthony Brown. Add Jordan Clarkson and Tarik Black into the mix and you don’t see the squad and think, “Man, that team would really be lost without Lou Williams.”
The team insists that he’s a core player and a “building block for the future” but the fact of the matter remains, wouldn’t you rather have a first round pick, even if it’s a late pick, that could grow with the Lakers’ young core than a 29 year old guard whose veteran presence on the team isn’t even really that important?
Of course you would!
Value to Title Hopefuls
If LeBron James could turn J.R. Smith into a two way player and more so, an NBA champion then the sky is the limit for Williams on a contender. Teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies are desperate for a player who could immediately come in and provide instant offense.
Add his manageable contract to the fact that he’s more than happy to come off of the bench and he becomes an easy target for a variety of teams. Seeing how the Chicago Bulls recently said that they are “retooling, not rebuilding,” they become another interesting option.
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Long story short, the Lakers should definitely try to test the waters especially if draft picks are that easy to acquire.