There was once a time when the basketball community thought the world of Patrick Williams' upside as an NBA pro. Those days have rapidly disappeared. The former fourth overall pick never became Kawhi Leonard. The Chicago Bulls forward never even truly filled out as a capable 3-and-D wing.
Would the Bulls love to wipe their hands clean of the Williams experiment? Probably. However, the $90 million elephant in the room may be too heavy for them to offload the 24-year-old to another franchise in the immediate future.
Williams is in the second year of that brutal contract. With his money not set to come off the books until the conclusion of the 2028-29 season, teams are not going to be talking themselves into kicking the tires on a project the Bulls could not figure out. The Los Angeles Lakers certainly won't be giving them an easy out to their troubles.
Jake Fischer reported, "I know the Lakers are looking all across the wing market. I'd be absolutely shocked if they wanted to go at Pat Williams. ... They're probably looking at much more flexibility ... as opposed to putting Pat Williams' contract on their books."
Patrick Williams' albatross of a contract erases him out of Lakers' plans
The NBA insider added that Williams does not have positive value around the league. Fischer said no one is going out of their way to seek him out. It's understandable why.
$18 million as an annual average is a steep price in the current NBA CBA market. Pair that with Williams' woeful production, and it becomes an absolutely brutal hit to any team. That is especially true for a franchise like the Lakers who want to compete for a championship in the immediate future.
Williams is averaging a career-low 6.6 points per game in 2025-26. That is being delivered on the worst field goal percentage (36.3) of his time in the NBA. Nothing else the Bulls forward is doing would really be making up for that abysmal production either.
Williams is posting an offensive rating of 96 per 100 possessions for Chicago this season. The other end is not much better, with the struggling forward registering a defensive rating of 118 per 100 possessions. Both of those are — similarly to his scoring production — career lows.
It, somehow, actually gets worse. Williams is posting negative win shares for the Bulls this season. That is embarrassing.
The Lakers certainly need more athleticism to surround Luka Doncic. However, some paths are better left untraveled.