Lakers trade rumors: 'Several teams' interested in trading for Lou Williams

The NBA trade deadline is less than 24-hours away, and the Los Angeles Lakers have "made no secret" that veterans Roy Hibbert, Nick Young, Brandon Bass, and Lou Williams are available in a trade. Our panel thought Bass was most likely to be traded, Young has said he would not be surprised if he was dealt, and Hibbert would reportedly be amenable to a buyout if the team is unable to move him, but it now sounds like Williams may have be generating the most interest among those four names.

According to Michael Pina of Bleacher Report, "several teams" that were interested in Williams in free agency but were unable to acquire him may attempt to do so before the trade deadline. Pina notes that Williams is "committed" to the Lakers after signing a three year deal just this past summer, but it also makes sense that contending teams would want to acquire last year's Sixth Man of the Year award winner and a proven bench scoring option like Lou. As I wrote yesterday in arguing Williams was the player the Lakers were most likely to trade:

Lou Williams strikes me as the most likely to be traded. His microwave scoring could serve as a boon for either a contender or a fringe playoff team in need of a plug-and-play offensive option off of the bench. Lou is averaging 15.4 points per game on a solid 57.2 true-shooting percentage, both of which rank second on the Lakers.

Those numbers are aided by his bordering on absurd propensity for drawing whistles, with Williams going to the line a team leading 6.3 times per game and shooting 83.8 percent on those freebies.

All of that being said, a deal may still be unlikely. Both Byron Scott and Mitch Kupchak said that they thought a deadline deal was unlikely at this point, and while a lot could change in the feeding frenzy leading up to noon PST tomorrow as teams miss out on their first options or become desperate, it sounds like Williams will most likely finish out the season in purple and gold.

All stats per NBA.com. You can follow this author on Twitter at @hmfaigen.