{"id":497475,"date":"2026-10-16T00:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T00:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/497475\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T00:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T00:32:19","slug":"ziaire-williams-looks-to-continue-providing-energy-boost-to-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/497475\/","title":{"rendered":"Ziaire Williams looks to continue providing energy boost to Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He made one of the biggest splashes in the Lakers<\/a>\u2019 first preseason game. Ziaire Williams<\/a> set the tone of the Lakers\u2019 new defensive style, pressuring the ball the full length of the court and injecting energy into his teammates. The Sierra Canyon High alumnus sank three three-pointers in a stellar debut<\/a> for his hometown team.<\/p>\n

Then came the swelling in his left foot.<\/p>\n

After a minor injury slowed Williams\u2019 preseason ascent, the 6-foot-9 forward could be in position to return to the lineup for the Lakers\u2019 preseason finale at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the visiting Denver Nuggets. Williams practiced fully Thursday after missing the last three games. He\u2019ll leave the final call up to the Lakers\u2019 medical staff as the team tries to maximize its preseason preparation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important, man, just to get game reps with each other, but health is key,\u201d said Williams, who had 13 points and a steal as a starter in the preseason opener against the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 5. \u201cIf you can\u2019t go, you just can\u2019t. It\u2019s not the end of the world. Going back to championship identity, we\u2019re looking ahead at the bigger picture. So it\u2019s not worth [it] to risk your body for a game that doesn\u2019t count and then be out for the real games.\u201d<\/p>\n

With nine new players, the Lakers needed training camp and preseason games to build chemistry as a group. Small injuries to several players interrupted the process, but with one fewer preseason game than last year and almost double the total practice days, coach JJ Redick said integrating new players still has \u201cbeen pretty seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would love to have gotten looks with everybody healthy and everybody good to go,\u201d Redick said, \u201cbut we also have to be smart with an 82-game season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers debuted new center Walker Kessler <\/a>only this week<\/a>, and the star acquisition who jammed a pinky finger early in training camp still has not played in a game with guard Luka Doncic, who was held out of Tuesday\u2019s game for a planned rest day. Doncic participated fully in practice Thursday, as did forward Adou Thiero, who sat out Tuesday because of \u201cmaintenance,\u201d Redick said. Rookie Cameron Carr (undisclosed) remained out of practice Thursday after missing the last two games.<\/p>\n

Guard Quentin Grimes has been a preseason iron man. The free-agent signing who is angling for a starting position has played a team-high 97 minutes in four preseason games. With Doncic and Austin Reaves playing together only once in the first four games, Grimes has filled a larger ballhandling role than he might have if the Lakers were at full strength. The 26-year-old guard who is on his fifth team in six seasons credited his journeyman history for helping him get comfortable with a do-it-all role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done a good job of just creating offense, creating opportunities whether that be for myself or for teammates, getting everybody involved,\u201d said Grimes, who is averaging 12.3 points and 2.5 assists on 53.3% shooting in the preseason. \u201cI feel like this team allows me to play on the ball, off the ball in any situation. I feel like I\u2019ve played that kind of [role at] every stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collin Sexton is the only offseason acquisition who has not made his Lakers debut. Battling a lower leg injury, Sexton participated in all of practice except for periods of live play Thursday. After practice, the guard was seen with kinesiology tape snaking up his right calf while working on the court with assistant coaches.<\/p>\n

Sexton\u2019s presence could help stabilize the Lakers\u2019 offense, which is averaging 25.3 turnovers during the preseason.<\/p>\n

When Sexton was sidelined at the beginning of the preseason, Redick said he was not worried about the guard\u2019s status for the Oct. 21 season opener against Golden State. When asked Thursday about Sexton\u2019s availability, Redick said simply he was \u201ctrending in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He made one of the biggest splashes in the Lakers\u2019 first preseason game. Ziaire Williams set the tone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[193220,155746,193221,193218,423,136635,48,52,51,1415,47,50,49,95059,2612,1417,193219,1414,278,2429,104354],"class_list":["post-497475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-26-year-old-guard","tag-collin-sexton","tag-energy-boost","tag-first-preseason-game","tag-game","tag-hometown-team","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-new-player","tag-oct","tag-point","tag-preseason-ascent","tag-redick","tag-season","tag-thursday","tag-ziaire-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}