Winners and Losers from LA Lakers' Dalton Knecht-Mark Williams Trade Deadline Deal
One of the most obvious takeaways from the stunning trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers was the fact that the Dallas Mavericks let L.A. keep enough assets to acquire a center in a separate move.
Wednesday, that move came when the Lakers swooped in and picked up Hornets center Mark Williams.
ESPN's Shams Charania had the details:
And we have the biggest winners and losers from this deal below.
Winner: Mark Williams
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It's flown under the radar because of all his injuries and the fact that he's on the sub-.500 Charlotte Hornets, but Williams has been a per-possession juggernaut this season.
His basic numbers of 16.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 blocks may not blow you away, but you have to bear in mind he's piling all that up in 25.0 minutes.
Per 75 possessions, Williams (who's currently eighth in the league in box plus/minus) is averaging 23.6 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 blocks.
Now, the 23-year-old will get the opportunity to showcase his game and all that production for one of the league's marquee franchises. And his on-court life is about to get even easier.
Williams was playing with a great playmaker in Charlotte's LaMelo Ball, but he'll now share the floor with two of the best and most prolific on-ball creators and distributors of all time in Luka Dončić and LeBron James.
He'll be spoon-fed several, wide-open attempts at the rim every game.
And perhaps most importantly, he's going from a team barreling toward another top pick in the draft to a legitimate title contender.
Loser (in a Way): Dalton Knecht
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While Williams is going to a contender and multiple all-world playmakers, the opposite is true for rookie Dalton Knecht.
Simply leaving L.A. and the prospect of real playoff experience to go to the tanking Hornets makes this a loss for the 23-year-old.
It doesn't have to stay that way, though.
With Brandon Miller out for the rest of the season, there's a real opportunity for Knecht to showcase and develop his offense on the wing.
He's averaging 9.4 points in 20.7 minutes and has a 17.9 usage percentage for the Lakers. All three of those marks could skyrocket in Charlotte, which is dying for offense beyond Ball.
Winner: LA Lakers
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The Lakers were already having an all-time great deadline week, thanks entirely to the straight-up coup that landed Dončić in L.A.
But because the Dallas Mavericks failed to extract more than one first-round pick for their former all-world star, the Lakers were in a position to overpay for a center.
And while Knecht, a first-round pick and a pick swap feels like a lot for a center who's missed over 60 percent of his NBA games with injuries, it's next to nothing when aggregated with the Luka deal.
This week, the Lakers added a perennial MVP candidate and an up-and-coming 7-footer for Anthony Davis, two picks and a pick swap. And they got to keep Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves.
They went from a team that was likely to flounder in or around the play-in range for the foreseeable future, to an immediate title contender with one of the brightest long-term futures in the NBA.
In concert, these deals aren't just a win. They're the high point for the franchise since the championship in 2020.
Loser: Dallas Mavericks
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Yes, the Dallas Mavericks have made their way into this slideshow. No, they weren't a part of the trade that sent Williams to the Lakers, at least not directly.
But this trade wouldn't have been possible without Dallas getting significantly less than market value for one of the 5-10 best 25-year-old players in NBA history.
Granted, Anthony Davis is having a special season and Max Christie has a chance to develop into a solid role player, but this was still a wildly unbalanced swap.
It's impossible to see L.A. sent a first-round pick and a first-round pick swap for Williams and not think back to the Mavs getting just one first for Luka.
In fact, just about every trade that's followed the Dončić blockbuster is begging to be compared to it.
Winner: Charlotte Hornets
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Williams has plenty of untapped upside and production, but the return here is likely too good for Charlotte to pass up.
Again, Williams has been sidelined for over half his games with the Hornets. Getting a first-rounder and another pick swap for him would be great value in itself, but the addition of Knecht really seals Charlotte's spot on this side of the winners-losers ledger.
He's eight months older than Williams, but Knecht looks like a potentially dynamic jump shooter. And having him and Miller both flanking Ball's drives next season will make it tougher for defenses to focus on the action in the middle of the floor.
