{"id":123352,"date":"2025-02-11T18:03:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T23:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=123352"},"modified":"2025-02-11T18:03:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T23:03:24","slug":"lakers-sign-center-alex-len","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/11\/lakers-sign-center-alex-len\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Sign Former Top-5 Pick to Help Center Depth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When one door closes, another one opens. After an initial trade to land Charlotte big man <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willima07.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mark Williams<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/08\/lakers-hornets-void-mark-williams-dalton-knecht-trade\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fell through<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the Lakers pivoted to the buyout market, signing veteran big man <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lenal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alex Len<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Free agent 7-footer Alex Len will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, agent Mike Lelchitski tells ESPN. Len intended to sign with the Pacers but has decided to land in LA after the Lakers rescinded the Mark Williams trade and created new opportunity. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pjqV5HaK4n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/pjqV5HaK4n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1889435463615959132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make room for Len, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1889438077958979940\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Lakers waived center<\/span><\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/woodch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christian Wood<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who was recovering from offseason knee surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakers Sign Former Top-5 Pick to Help Center Depth<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Alex Len\u2019s Background and Fit<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Len, the fifth overall pick in 2013, began his career with the Phoenix Suns as a backup center for five years. He then moved around the league from 2018 to 2021, holding stints with the Hawks, Kings, Raptors and Wizards before sticking with Sacramento for the last four years. Across 680 career games, the 7-foot, 250-pound big man has averaged 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds on .510\/.322\/.680 splits. He had played 31 games for the Kings this season before being traded to the Wizards, averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 7.2 minutes per game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After being waived by the Wizards last week, the 31-year-old planned to sign with the Indiana Pacers. However, he soon <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2025\/02\/alex-len-not-signing-with-pacers.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backed out of his decision<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> while the Pacers moved on to <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okafoja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jahlil Okafor<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. According to ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania, that led to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/11\/buyout-big-rejects-pacers-lakers-hold-interest\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mutual interest between Len and the Lakers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and eventually, the two sides agreed to a deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Len will join a Lakers frontcourt in need of help in the middle. 24-year-old <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayesja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/11\/lakers-luka-lebron-jaxson-hayes\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LA\u2019s starting center going forward<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but the team lacked a backup big due to the limitations of <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kolokch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christian Koloko<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jemistr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trey Jemison<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (two-way contracts). Len will slide into JJ Redick\u2019s rotation as a physical presence in the paint, which allows the team to move away from small-ball lineups. He may not boast the rocket-like athleticism Hayes has, but he provides significant strength at the five and is a solid rim-roller and paint defender. With 11 years of NBA experience, Len could also serve as an effective mentor to Hayes, Koloko and Jemison, who all continue to star in their roles for the purple and gold.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Last Word on Alex Len to the Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lakers have solidified a position of need as they begin a new era with <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LeBron James<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. With their full-time roster count at 14 (excluding two-way players), they have an opportunity to fill the last spot ahead of the postseason, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hoopsrumors.com\/2025\/02\/lakers-targeting-shooting-guard-with-open-roster-spot.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">potentially with a shooting guard<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When one door closes, another one opens. After an initial trade to land Charlotte big man Mark Williams fell through, the Lakers pivoted to the buyout market, signing veteran big man Alex Len Tuesday. Free agent 7-footer Alex Len will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, agent Mike Lelchitski tells ESPN. Len intended to sign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":123356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[46,1962,2279,38,1133],"class_list":["post-123352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-alex-len","tag-jaxson-hayes","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123352"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123363,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123352\/revisions\/123363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}