The Los Angeles Lakers have taken a chance on former No. 10 overall draft pick Ziaire Williams. Williams has flashed the potential to be a 3-and-D wing at 6'9", but his inconsistency on either end of the floor has overshadowed his capacity for excellence.
Thankfully, the Lakers have surrounded Williams with the perfect players to bring the best out of him—and that isn't limited to franchise players Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Doncic and Reaves are key factors here, as they alone should improve Williams' output on offense through their elite playmaking. For example, Williams finished the 2025-26 season ranked in the 49th percentile in three-point shot quality, per Basketball Index.
Reaves, meanwhile, ranked in the 98th percentile in on-ball gravity and passing creation quality. Doncic ranked No. 1 in the NBA in both.
Doncic and Reaves should thus be able to help Williams get over the hump and finally reach true efficiency as a shooter. He's certainly close, as he buried 34.1 percent of his threes in 2024-25 and 34.3 percent in 2025-26 despite the mediocre quality of his looks.
For as appealing as that all may be, it's somehow not even the biggest benefit of Williams joining the Lakers. That would be the competitive environment in which he must compete for minutes.
Lakers are challenging Ziaire Williams to outwork proven hustle players
The Lakers have three starters written in pen and a fourth in pencil. Doncic and Reaves are joined by $130 million center Walker Kessler as far as the more permanent writing is concerned, while $60 million wing Quentin Grimes is a likely candidate to join them.
The final spot in the starting lineup, however, is seemingly undecided—and the only way for Williams to win it is to overcome the efforts of players such as Jake LaRavia and Matisse Thybulle.
Though LaRavia and Thybulle have flaws, their effort and intensity on the defensive end of the floor goes unquestioned. They're willing to get their hands dirty, making plays on and away from the ball that amount to winning basketball from a key role player.
Williams' talent level should give him the edge over his competition, but if he doesn't prove that he's willing to work just as hard as they are on every possession, he'll fall behind. Thankfully, he already seems to realize how high the standard is for effort.
Per Khobi Price of The California Post, Williams had the following to say about the wings on the Lakers' roster and how they're pushing their teammates to a higher level of intensity.
"We got some dogs on this team. Everyone plays 1-4. All the wings are great. There's no slack; you see four or five wings out there playing hard, everybody else has to pick it up a notch."
With elite playmakers who can create more efficient shots and defensive-minded wings who can push Williams to match their effort, the Lakers may just be the team that taps into the former lottery pick's potential.
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