{"id":875730,"date":"2026-09-01T03:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875730\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T03:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T03:10:13","slug":"lakers-new-wing-explains-decision-to-join-la-shares-huge-luka-doncic-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875730\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers new wing explains decision to join LA, shares huge Luka Doncic revelation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ziaire Williams is looking to make the most of his decision to join his hometown Lakers team and share the court with Luka Doncic.<\/p>\n<p>Ziaire Williams has been fully compelled to go home to Los Angeles and play for the Lakers.<\/p>\n<p>        <a class=\"article-widget__photo\" href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/players\/18340-luka-doncic.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-455489-plsm.jpg\" alt=\"Luka  Doncic\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                Position<br \/>\n                PG, SG\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Age<br \/>\n                27\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Height<br \/>\n                203 cm\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Weight<br \/>\n                104 kg\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Birth place<br \/>\n                Ljubljana, Slovenia\n            <\/p>\n<p>For the new Lakers wing, the decision to sign with the franchise is a no-brainer, considering the impactful role he will fill and the significant opportunity to play in front of his loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just thought it was a great opportunity,\u201d Williams said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/2026\/08\/31\/exclusive-ziaire-williams-talks-lancaster-basketball-clinic-joining-lakers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">via<\/a> Benjamin Royer of The Orange County Register. \u201cBeing that big wing, versatile player that they needed, I just thought it was a great opportunity for me to be a Laker. Even if the same team was in New Orleans or Milwaukee, wherever \u2013 just the opportunity that was here and the team that they had, I just thought it was the best fit.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And then just being back home in L.A. is the cherry on top. Being able to play in front of my family and my friends, and I\u2019m super excited.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> Ziaire Williams joins Lakers in a great, budget-friendly deal <\/p>\n<p>Ziaire Williams signed a one-year, $2.85 million veteran\u2019s minimum contract with the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason<\/p>\n<p>Williams hit unrestricted free agency after the Brooklyn Nets declined the $6.25 million team option on his contract, clearing the way for him to sign with Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old played the best season of his young career last 2025-26 season. Averaging a career-best 10.2 points and 1.4 steals, Williams seized a huge season for himself in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n<p>As one of the up-and-coming wings in the league, he is now poised to be a major asset for the Lakers and be a critical complementary piece around Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves.<\/p>\n<p> Ziaire Williams excited to finally play alongside Luka Doncic <\/p>\n<p>Ziaire Williams is already fascinated by the possibilities that await Luka Doncic heading to next year.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic previously led the Lakers&#8217; Slovenia minicamp, embracing his new teammates ahead of a new NBA season. And just from the initiatives that were made by the superstar, Williams simply can&#8217;t wait to share the court with Doncic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can tell (Doncic\u2019s) leadership. He wants to step up even more this year,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI\u2019m excited, man. I\u2019m really excited to play with him. And of course, when we\u2019re playing basketball, it\u2019s just he makes the game just so easy and looks so simple.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He\u2019s going to make my life a lot easier for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/plus?utm_source=basketnews_com&amp;utm_medium=bn_plus&amp;utm_id=UA-259273-31&amp;utm_campaign=banners_free_content_for_not_members_bottom_6\" class=\"banners_paid_content_info_block_white banners-paid-content-info-block-white\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bn-plus-img img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/bn-plus.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Thank you for reading us! 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It helps us a lot, and we are committed to delivering you the very latest basketball news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ziaire Williams is looking to make the most of his decision to join his hometown Lakers team and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-875730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}