Thanks to a particularly vicious injury bug, the 2018-2019 Los Angeles Lakers found it necessary to call up a number of players from their G-League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. Of those players, Johnathan Williams, Jemerrio Jones, and Isaac Bonga showed enough to suggest they could be contributors moving forward.
Williams was thrust into the rotation early in the 2018-19 NBA season as the Lakers looked to shore up their backline with Kyle Kuzma struggling to act as a small-ball center and Ivica Zubac not back up to speed following an illness. He showed a knack for rebounding and some ability to switch on defense but saw his role eliminated when Tyson Chandler was waived by the Phoenix Suns and made the jump to Los Angeles.