The reverberations from the LA Lakers’ elimination from the playoffs this season will be felt for some time to come as they became victims of their own expectations.
A strong regular season finish saw them catapult themselves to third in a brutal Western Conference, a display of which was given to them by a fierce Minnesota Timberwolves outfit.
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the series as favorites but were given a harsh reality check by the Timberwolves, led by their physical players.
Brian Windhorst has now claimed that the Lakers shouldn’t even have been favorites to begin with, given that a decision that was made weeks before the series had already confirmed their fate.
The Lakers front office has received a lot of plaudits this season and rightly so, given they engineered arguably the most seismic trade in NBA history by trading for Luka Doncic.
Doncic had growing challenges with LeBron James and settling in with his new team but nobody doubts that it makes the Lakers better in the long term.
However, with the plaudits also come some question marks and they are now staring the front office right in the face after this elimination.
Brian Windhorst claimed on ESPN that the Lakers’ decision to rescind the Mark Williams trade looks worse with each day as not only did the Lakers get bullied in the interior, Williams unlocked another level to his game.
Even James made a remarkable Anthony Davis comment about the team needing size so it lends credence to Windhorst’s theory.
Windhorst said: “You traded two rotation players to get Luka Doncic so you’re already at a deficit there. As soon as they decided to veto the Mark Williams trade, then they were just not in a position to help the roster.
“Williams, in the 21 games he played after that averaged 15 points, 10 rebounds and shot 62% from the field. He’s 7’1″. If you don’t think it would have made a difference in this series I don’t know what to say. As soon as they made that decision they put themselves in a position to get exposed.”
Mark Williams didn’t hide his feelings after the Lakers got eliminated so there are clearly some sour hearts between the two parties over a deal that is still in the dark as to why it was canceled.
It has previously been said by Bobby Marks that Mark Williams isn’t a difference-maker and wouldn’t have changed the result of this series but the Lakers are so short on height and physicality that even Alex Len was signed to the roster!
It’s impossible to see how Williams, almost certainly a better player than Len at this point, wouldn’t have made a difference.
The Lakers have the better backcourt, Doncic is a generational talent, and some interior presence could have also helped Austin Reaves in an increasingly tactical playoff series.
Now the Lakers will seek a vertical presence in the off-season but in Williams, they already had one locked in who could have made a difference this off-season.
For every Doncic hit, there’s a miss like this.
