After getting beat up on the boards in Thursday’s home opener, the Los Angeles Lakers made a move to shore up their frontcourt on Friday.
The Lakers announced that they were signing big man Jonathan Williams, who was with them in training camp, to a two-way deal. They also waived Travis Wear in the process.
The Lakers gave up 14 offensive rebounds to the Blazers on Thursday, as the drawbacks of having JaVale McGee as their only center were evident. Kyle Kuzma’s minutes at center, especially on the defensive end, were quite underwhelming.
And because of those two performances, the Lakers made the signing of Williams. A big reason why they could have done it as well is to ensure that LeBron James doesn’t play too much center in the regular season.
James has fully committed himself to playing power forward, but bumping up to play center means a lot more physicality under the basket and a lot more pushing and shoving.
The Lakers would be wise to limit the wear and tear on LeBron, which is why they made the move they made on Friday.