Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Trade Destinations For Lou Williams
By Jason Oliver
The Los Angeles Lakers have an opportunity to improve their chances of keeping their 2017 first-round pick, but it involves trading their best performing player, Lou Williams.
You know things aren’t going to plan when Lou Williams is coming off the bench to be the best player for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Williams leads the team in scoring at 18.1 points in just 24 minutes minutes per game, largely due to his 59 percent true shooting percentage. His 4.0 win shares is far and away the best on the team and he’s the only player in purple and gold with a positive plus/minus.
Sweet Lou is keeping the Lakers afloat.
As the trade deadline approaches the Lakers need to decide how afloat they wish to be. With their first-round pick being top-three protected, sinking further into the NBA doldrums for one more season may be beneficial.
Should they decide to make a run at being even worse than they are now, trading Lou Williams is how they do it.
The 30-year-old is a former Sixth Man of the Year and if it wasn’t for his team’s 16-34 record he might have been considered for the award again. There’s a market for a pure scorer like Williams, even with his defensive deficiencies.
He has an appealing contract of $7 million a season with a year left after 2016-17. With some good teams with poor benches out there, a high scoring veteran like Williams could be welcomed.