Johnathan Williams needs minutes going forward. The Lakers have been desperately seeking someone who can play the backup center position since the beginning of training camp, and the guy that they need may have been here all along.
It’s no coincidence that Kyle Kuzma flourished at the exact time that he didn’t have to play a significant number of his minutes as a small-ball five. Ivica Zubac picked up five fouls in five minutes as LaMarcus Aldridge flummoxed him. Michael Beasley’s game still hasn’t arrived from New York.