Lakers trade with Charlotte has been rescinded.

[omahen]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4376...uka-doncic

Rather than Pelinka having results to show after his first extended meeting with Doncic at the team's practice facility Feb. 3, when Doncic handpicked Williams for the GM to attempt to land, a source familiar with the matter said, the first transaction of their partnership defaulted.

I read this article and here I saw the statement that Luka specifically asked for Williams, which would really surprised me. I totally believe he described the type of center, that is logical. This was what Pelinka said - he never said Luka suggested Williams specifically.  Williams obviously fits the type. There was also a report, that Lakers asked Detroit for Duren, which would somehow be against that only one particular player was hunted. So I think this article is not totally exact or perhaps misleading in the part with Luka handpicking Williams. 

As for Lakers not spending assets on the center before. LeBron is now most comfortable playing PF. Moving AD to PF and bringing in another center would create a problem for them, as LeBron would also play out of position. Trading Davis obviously created a big hole at center position and something needed to be done. I am kind of ok that trade was rescinded, as it was always obviously a huge risk spending basically all remaining assets on such a player. Downside to this is that they are really weak at center, which will probably limit them at some point. LeBron will not get any younger next season, so it will be again more difficult to compete, even if they bring in a competent center in the summer.