Trump urges Americans to ‘bring God back into our lives’ in National Prayer Breakfast speech

• February 6, 2025

By AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year, as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back” into their lives.

Trump joined a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship. He later spoke at a separate prayer breakfast at a Washington hotel sponsored by a private group.

“I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief,” Trump said at the Capitol. “Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”

Trump reflected on having a bullet coming within a hair’s breadth of killing him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling lawmakers and attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel.”

“I feel even stronger,” he continued. “I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.”

He drew laughs when he expressed gratitude that the episode “didn’t affect my hair.”

The president, who’s a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with “absolute devotion.”

Trump and his administration have already clashed with religious leaders, including him disagreeing with the Rev. Mariann Budde’s sermon the day after his inauguration, when she called for mercy for members of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants who are in the country illegally.

Vice President JD Vance, who’s Catholic, has sparred with top U.S. leaders of his own church over immigration issues. And many clergy members across the country are worried about the removal of churches from the sensitive-areas list, allowing federal officials to conduct immigration actions at places of worship.

The Republican president made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted him in his first impeachment trial.

Trump in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at Democratic then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who publicly said she prayed for Trump, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had cited his faith in his decision to vote to convict Trump.

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump said then in his winding speech, in which he also held up two newspapers with banner headlines about his acquittal. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend the prayer breakfast, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.

Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas are the honorary co-chairs of this year’s prayer breakfast.

In 2023, the National Prayer Breakfast split into two dueling events, the one on Capitol Hill largely attended by lawmakers and government officials and a larger private event for thousands at a hotel ballroom. The split occurred when lawmakers sought to distance themselves from the private religious group that for decades had overseen the bigger event, due to questions about its organization and how it was funded.

In 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, spoke at the Capitol Hill event, and his remarks were livestreamed to the other gathering.

AP writers Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed. Follow the AP’s coverage of Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.

​ Orange County Register 

Irvine boys basketball tops Northwood in 2OT thriller to win first league title since 1991

• February 6, 2025

IRVINE – Eight months ago, Holden Stearns might have crawled into his shell. Might have hung his head. Might have disappeared from doing anything meaningful in the scorebook.

But that was then. The sophomore guard for Irvine’s boys basketball team has since matured, has grown into a different player, and on Wednesday he made the most meaningful contribution of his high school career in the scorebook.

Hitting every big shot when it mattered – scoring eight points in the first overtime and hitting a 3-pointer to begin the second extra period — Stearns was the most important player in Irvine’s 65-60 victory over Northwood in double overtime in the Pacific Coast League championship game at Portola High.

It is the first league title for the Vaqueros since 1991. Generations of players and students have passed through Irvine’s halls without witnessing what took place Wednesday, establishing a legacy that was 34 years in the making.

Stearns scored 19 points – 13 of them after the third quarter – and older brother Cooper Stearns scored 28 as the Vaqueros (26-2) won their 19th game in a row. Northwood dropped to 14-10 despite getting 16 points from Logan Barbee, and 14 apiece from Dane Mortenson and Justin Liu.

Cooper Stearns getting his pound of flesh was to be expected. He’s arguably the best player in the league. But Holden?

“We were not expecting him to have a game like that,” said Barbee, Northwood’s senior point guard, who hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 63-60. “It was a little bit surprising but he stepped up.”

Did so in a big way. Fans didn’t get the best of both teams in the first half, particularly Irvine. The Vaqueros, who had not lost a PCL game this season, were tied at 8-8 but were trailing 20-12 with less than two minutes left in the half.

They had missed six consecutive shots and made three turnovers. They were flailing and in danger of watching their almost perfect season go kaput. It didn’t look particularly good that the decades of frustration would finally end.

Then the younger Stearns made his first basket, a 3-pointer with 1:27 left to stop the bleeding. And another 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining to pull to 22-19 at the break. It was the biggest two minutes of the game, maybe the season.

“Those two shots empowered me to go into the locker room and talk calmly,” Irvine coach Harry Meussner said, “talk about statistics, that we weren’t going to shoot (poorly) the rest of the game, that statistically we were going to get better. Just keep shooting.”

The statistics caught up with Irvine. Jalen Yim opened the second half with a 3-pointer, Cooper Stearns scored on a couple of layups and just like that, Irvine led 26-22.

“This is such a special team,” Holden Stearns said. “Every single person on this team is friends with each other. Everyone loves each other. … We are so connected. It means so much to win with my boys and my brother. This is one of the greatest memories I’m going to have with him. It’s going to be one of the last games I play with him.

“I didn’t give up,” he added. “When I was younger, anytime I was facing a challenge, I’d give up. I was playing with my bother for my school and the friends I love. Had to keep the foot on the gas.”

As recently as “eight months ago,” Holden Stearns said he would have checked out if he had so much as a single air ball, much less “the three or four I had tonight.”

“A year ago, I’d put my head down and wouldn’t shoot again, I’d mope around,” he said, crediting his faith and the confidence that coaches have instilled in him. Eighteen consecutive wins to reach this showcase didn’t hurt, either.

“For Holden, his story is that early in the season, he always was his own worst enemy, he’d get down on himself,” Meussner said. “You see what he did tonight. We coach him, but no one coached that. The kid has it in him. He conquered his mental. I knew the sky was the limit, but what a phenomenal game. This was beyond anyone’s expectations, even with high expectations for a young man like that.”

If the first half wasn’t the best of both teams, the second half was. They put on a show. This was not about who wanted to win more. It was evident until the final buzzer that both wanted it in the worst way and left everything on the court before it was stampeded by Irvine fans.

Cooper Stearns scored 11 in the third quarter as Irvine carried a 38-34 lead into the fourth.

Northwood caught the Vaqueros at 40 on Liu’s drive to the basket with 5:04 left in regulation. Taewan Kim scored inside off a nifty assist from Cooper Stearns, but Mortenson answered with a 3-pointer for a 43-42 Northwood lead.

But that would be the Timberwolves’ last lead in regulation. Holden Stearns scored in close, and Yim hit a 3 with 2:38 remaining for a 47-43 Irvine lead. But Irvine went dry. Liu drove the lane for two points, and Barbee tied the score at 47. Both teams had chances in the final seconds but fell short.

Holden Stearns scored 8 of his team’s 9 points – including two 3-pointers – in the first overtime but it wasn’t enough to shake the Timberwolves, who kept pace and took a 56-55 lead on Liu’s drive to the basket with 1:22 left. Cooper Stearns could have won it for Irvine but made only one of two free throws – the second one – with 7.9 seconds remaining to tie the score at 56-56.

The first two minutes of the second four-minute overtime period were scoreless, but one of the game’s biggest moments took place. Liu – with 14 points in the scorebook – fouled out on an offensive foul. The star of Monday’s semifinal upset of Sage Hill, Liu’s absence was too much to overcome.

“That was huge,” Holden Stearns said. “It was like, this is it. This is our opportunity.”

So he hit a 3-pointer. Then Cooper Stearns scored off a rebound. A Northwood free throw was answered by two from Cooper Stearns with 17 seconds remaining for a 63-57 lead.

Barbee made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left but Cooper Stearns added two more free throws for a 65-60 margin.

The magic had run out on Northwood.

But the legacy was made with Irvine.

​ Orange County Register 

Personnel is policy: Kevin Hassett brings fiscal responsibility to the White House

• February 6, 2025

The fate of President Donald Trump’s ambitious economic policy plans will be determined by the people he appoints to critical positions. With a debt of over $36 trillion (heading toward $59 trillion in 2035 by some estimates), inflation not resolved, an entitlement crisis looming and the need to extend the president’s 2017 tax cuts, we’d better hope the cooler, more experienced heads prevail.

As it happens, Kevin Hassett, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and later a senior adviser to the president during Trump’s first administration, has been appointed to lead the National Economic Council. Clearly one of the economists Trump trusts most, Hassett might just be the person capable of charting a fiscally responsible path through challenging circumstances.

“Personnel is policy” is not just a platitude; it’s a fact that’s shaped past administrations. Key advisers have long played leading roles crafting monumental economic policies.

It’s a long list that includes Arthur Laffer, whose theories on tax cuts and supply-side economics fundamentally reshaped fiscal policy and spurred growth during the Reagan years. Ezekiel Emanuel has been called the architect of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act, with long-lasting impacts on U.S. health care.

Hassett could play an equally significant role. Take the debate about extending Trump’s tax cuts. Letting them all expire isn’t really an option, but tax cuts are expensive. How to pay is crucial. Unfortunately, in this populist era, corporations are often scapegoated for all that’s wrong with the world, and some voices are demanding higher corporate tax rates to pay for individual cuts.

Here, Hassett’s scholarship will prove invaluable. In 2006, he and Aparna Mathur coauthored the first empirical study examining the link between corporate taxes and manufacturing wages. Analyzing data from 72 countries over 22 years, they found that the burden of corporate income taxes is largely shouldered by workers through lower wages.

This conclusion has since been reinforced by many studies. In a recent review of the academic literature, Cato Institute economist Adam Michel writes: “The best economic evidence suggests that workers pay more than half, and likely three-quarters, of the cost of the corporate tax. Thus, cutting business taxes is a tax cut for working Americans.”

While there are still debates over details, it’s now well established that corporate tax cuts aren’t simply giveaways to wealthy capitalists. Having someone within the administration who is so authoritative on this issue will be essential if we’re to avoid the mistake of paying for some tax extensions with damaging corporate tax hikes.

Indeed, Hassett’s work will be important in assessing which expiring tax provisions should absolutely be extended based on an ability to trigger investment, productivity and economic growth. In that respect, his recent paper on the 2017 corporate tax reforms, coauthored with the Hoover Institution’s Jon Hartley and Josh Rauh, demonstrates the importance of restoring the full-expensing provision that is now phasing out. Allowing businesses to fully deduct their investments means productivity, growth and a more prosperous workforce.

Beyond tax reform work, Hassett has been a key researcher on how best to reduce the debt. In 2010, he and coauthors Andrew Biggs and Matthew Jensen published a paper covering more than 100 instances in which countries tried to reduce budget gaps. Governments which “addressed their budget shortfalls through reduced spending burdens were far more likely to reduce their debt than countries whose budget-balancing strategies depended upon higher taxes.”

What’s more, “the typical unsuccessful fiscal consolidation consisted of 53 percent tax increases and 47 percent spending cuts. By contrast, the typical successful fiscal consolidation consisted of 85 percent spending cuts.”

As Hassett, Biggs and Jensen made clear, a vast majority of countries that have attempted to reduce debt-to-GDP ratios have failed precisely by relying too heavily on higher tax rates. Considering that the United States needs to implement austerity measures sooner rather than later — it’s more a question of “when” than “if” — having someone who understands the importance of carefully designing fiscal adjustments is, once again, essential.

There are many other areas where Hassett could be influential. While he may believe that Trump’s tariffs can be used to get concessions from other countries, he understands that, fundamentally, these are taxes imposed on Americans that pave no path to prosperity.

Much attention has been given to Trump’s appointees in areas like health care and defense. Hassett’s appointment should not be overlooked. It signals a focus on growth, job creation and even elusive fiscal responsibility — not just short-term populist measures.

Veronique de Rugy is the George Gibbs Chair in Political Economy and a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

​ Orange County Register 

Los Alamitos girls soccer tops Newport Harbor to extend reign in Sunset League to nine years

• February 6, 2025

LOS ALAMITOS — Two of the keys to success for the Los Alamitos girls soccer team have been scoring first and scoring early.

With the Sunset League title on the line, the Griffins once again scored an early goal and went on to a 2-0 victory over Newport Harbor in the Sunset League tournament final Wednesday at Los Alamitos High School.

The league title is the ninth in a row for the Griffins (15-5-3, 8-0).

The Griffins, who are ranked No. 4 in Orange County, went into the Sunset League’s first postseason tournament in first place, but because of the new point system, they needed to defeat the No. 3 Sailors (15-5-3, 7-2) to be crowned league champions.

Between the regular season and tournament, the Griffins finished with 25 points, compared to 20 for the Sailors, who finished in second place.

“Getting an early goal definitely kept us going,” said Los Alamitos’ Vivi Zacarias, who scored the second goal and assisted on the first goal, which was scored by Baylee Fernley. “And every year it keeps getting harder and harder. Big congrats and kudos to Newport Harbor and every other team in this league because they make it so challenging. They make us have to work every single day for the league title. It’s not easy because anyone can really win.”

Fernley’s goal came in the 28th minute, off a pass from Zacarias, who also scored both goals in the Griffins’ 2-0 victory over the Sailors in the regular-season finale on Jan. 28.

For Fernley’s goal, Zacarias had control of the ball near the right side of the goal but was being guarded by three players.

She then played the ball to Fernley, who took a second to set up her shot and fired the ball past the goalkeeper, who managed to get her hands on the ball, but couldn’t stop it from going into the net.

“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t blast it over and take too many touches,” Fernley said.

Zacarias scored her goal in the 32nd minute off of a free kick from Camryn Flores, who kicked the ball forward 30 yards from the goal.

Flores hit an arcing shot to Zacarias, who was facing away from the goal and flicked the ball into the net using the back of her head.

Newport Harbor coach Justin Schroeder praised the play of his back line and credited the Griffins for their consistency and ball control.

“They were flying around,” Schroeder said. “They were buzzing the entire game. They do a good job of running off the ball, playing that ball long, lay it off, kids are running through. They do a good job of that.”

When the CIF-SS playoff pairings are announced Saturday, Los Alamitos coach Pat Rossi is confident his team will be one of the eight teams selected for the Open Division.

Schroeder believes the Sailors also have a chance to be selected for the Open Division or be among the top four seeds in Division 1.

​ Orange County Register 

A real estate developer’s guide to the Middle East

• February 6, 2025

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has a basic idea about everybody on the planet; he believes that people just want to live well in nice housing and safe communities.

The world saw that in Singapore in 2018 when Trump met with North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un; Team Trump made a video that offered the Hermit Kingdom a place at the world’s prosperity table.

The world saw that side of Trump again Tuesday when the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took press questions in the White House East Room.

Trump’s appeal: He wants to turn Gaza into “the Riviera of the Middle East” — and he wants the United States to own the land.

While some heads in the room exploded, Trump pitched his message to those outside the room.

What do Gazans have to lose?

Trump bluntly stated that Gaza is now a “hellhole.” For more than a year, Israel bombarded the seaside strip of land with the goal of destroying Hamas so that its thugs cannot repeat the atrocity of Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 and created 251 hostages.

Gaza was a “hellhole” before the 2023 atrocity.

After being bombed back to the Stone Age, it’s not habitable, Trump offered.

Let Egypt, Jordan and other nations take in Palestinians while the United States nation builds.

The obstacles are many. As Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies put it, Palestinians have been “willing to live in rubble, live in tents, live without water or electricity, and suffer as living symbols of the Palestinian national cause. And this is what they have been encouraged to do. They’ve been incentivized to do by the rest of the Arab world since, since 1948.”

As if to prove Schanzer’s point, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responded, “We will not allow the rights of our people, for which we have struggled for decades and made great sacrifices to achieve, to be infringed upon.”

I have to agree.

But if the Arab World sees welcoming Gazans as a betrayal, perhaps other Muslim nations — say, Malaysia or Indonesia — could pitch in, Schanzer offered. Bottom line: Trump’s rhetoric “forced the Arab world to begin to engage more seriously if they don’t want the transfer of Gazans, if they don’t want the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip, they need to provide an alternative.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, told CNN, “I think we all agree that it should require the consent — consent of people to move out from where they live, and the consent for other countries to receive them.” True.

But Trump’s proposal for U.S. ownership is essential. In 2005, Israel withdrew from a functioning Gaza only to see Hamas take charge in 2007.

Is Trump’s “Riviera of the Middle East” scheme likely to happen? Probably not. The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake offered four possible explanations for Trump’s Gaza gambit: It provides a distraction, it’s a negotiating ploy, Trump sees value in adversaries believing he is volatile, and/or “His sudden imperialist streak is very real.”

I see a president who seized the opportunity to send a message to Palestinians — that they deserve better — and who chose to point a harsh spotlight on the misery that pervades corners in Gaza. The worst part is, that misery is a choice, a bad choice, but not a choice that needs repeating.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at [email protected]. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings double up Canadiens to extend home dominance

• February 6, 2025

LOS ANGELES — The Kings were holding court once more, returning to their winning ways and breaking open the Montreal Canadiens’ defense in a 6-3 win that they started out dominating and finished effectively on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

They have won 11 of their past 12 home games and now have consecutive victories after salvaging at least one win from their five-game road trip in the finale at Carolina. Montreal, which had been the cream of the NHL crop for five weeks, has now lost six of its past seven games.

Kevin Fiala had two goals for a second straight game and his linemate Quinton Byfield had three assists. Vladislav Gavrikov and Warren Foegele had a goal and an assist apiece, while Brandt Clarke and Trevor Moore (empty net) each scored a goal. Darcy Kuemper came up with 18 saves in the opener of a six-game homestand that bookends the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off international tournament.

Defensemen Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Logan Mallioux scored for Montreal. Jakub Dobeš stopped 32 of 37 shots.

There were twice as many goals (six) scored in the third period as the other two combined.

Moore scored into the empty net to close out an effort that began with Clarke’s goal just 15 seconds into the period.

Montreal got a marker from Mailloux, who strided confidently into a shot from high in the faceoff circle.

Previously, there was a second soft shot from distance that beat Kuemper, with this one coming after Alex Newhook blew a tire. The puck came to Carrier in the upper right corner of the Kings’ zone, where he let fly with a fluttering shot that snuck through both Drew Doughty and Kuemper to the far side.

The Kings had earned their first two-goal lead of the night when Alex Turcotte and Anže Kopitar joined forces to win a board battle, with Kopitar moving the puck high to Clarke. Clarke’s point shot zipped past Dobeš, whose vision was partially obstructed by Adrian Kempe.

The second period saw the two sides exchange goals to maintain the Kings’ edge from the first intermission at the second, also thanks to Kuemper’s quieting of a riotous rush from Montreal’s top line off a Joel Edmundson giveaway.

Just 1:32 after Montreal scored, the Kings recaptured the lead on a penalty shot by Foegele, whose shot between Dobeš’ pad and blocker grazed his arm en route to the nylon. It was Foegele’s 13th goal of the season and the first conversion of a penalty shot since Austin Wagner netted one against Colorado nearly five years ago.

At the 3:51 mark, the Habs had gotten on the board with a magic bullet. Matheson flinged a wobbling puck toward the net that caromed off Doughty’s posterior and then Kuemper’s head before entering the net.

The Kings, who had three days off prior to the game, came out skating circles around the Habs, who had won in San Jose a night earlier to snap a five-game losing streak. The hosts recorded the first dozen shots of the game and its first goal just 99 seconds after the opening faceoff.

Sandwiched between two tortuous near-misses for Moore was Gavrikov’s goal. Byfield recovered a shot and slid the puck high for the Russian defender, whose blast from above the left circle through a Laferriere screen became his third goal of 2024-25. Byfield’s assists, on this goal and both of Fiala’s, brought his totals to five in two games and eight points across five career games versus Montreal.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Canyon boys basketball defeats Cypress in tiebreaker game, earns CIF-SS playoff berth

• February 6, 2025

FULLERTON – It was only right that Orange County boys basketball’s wild and crazy Crestview League would need an additional game to decide the league’s third and final guaranteed playoff berth.

Canyon and Cypress played each other Wednesday in that third-place tiebreaker game. Led by Brandon Benjamin’s 29 points, Canyon defeated Cypress 64-56 at Sunny Hills High.

Canyon likely will be in CIF Southern Section Division 1 when the playoffs begin Feb. 12.

Canyon, 20-9 overall, is No. 17 in the CIF-SS rankings that determine the placement of playoff teams into playoff divisions.

If Canyon this week is moved into the top 16 teams in the final rankings of the season, and if the Open Division is a 16-team bracket, then Canyon would be in the Open Division for the playoffs. The Open Division was an eight-team group last year, and seems destined to be a group of 8-10 teams this year.

As only the top three teams in a five-team league like the Crestview receive guaranteed playoff berths, Cypress (18-11) is left to hope an at-large berth is available. The Centurions, No. 32 in the CIF-SS rankings, will be in the Division 1 pool of at-large hopefuls.

CIF-SS boys and girls basketball playoff brackets will be released Saturday at noon.

Wednesday’s game matched two teams that were going in opposite directions as they concluded their scheduled Crestview League games with their 4-4 league records. Canyon and Cypress split their two league games, so head-to-head results could not break the tie between them. Sunny Hills was selected as the neutral site for the third-place playoff game.

After a 0-3 start in league Cypress had won four of its last five Crestview League games to get the Centurions into playoff contention. Canyon, 4-1 at one point of league play, had lost three straight league games, including a two-point loss to league champion Crean Lutheran on Tuesday, by a total of 11 points.

Benjamin, a 6-6 senior forward who signed with University of San Diego, scored 12 points in the fourth quarter. He made 3 of his 4 shots and was 6 for 6 at the free-throw line in the final eight minutes.

“Knowing that, as a senior, this could be one of our last games, we just wanted it more,” Benjamin said. “We wanted to come out, make sure we get to the playoffs and have a good ending to our season.”

Benjamin scored in the usual manner – powering his way up and through the double- and triple-teams he has encountered since his freshman year with a handful of 10-15 foot jump shots and a first-quarter 3-pointer. He also had 10 rebounds and five assists.

Canyon senior guards Saf Yilmazturk scored 12 points with two 3-pointers and Noah Kim scored seven points. Senior forward Zach Cutler grabbed seven rebounds.

“Credit to our kids,” said Canyon coach Nate Harrison. “We had a really tough loss last night. Some teams would be done at that point, and our kids didn’t quit.”

Cypress junior high-energy guard Ryan Gov scored 23 points including eight points in the fourth quarter. Centurions senior guard King Birdsong scored 15 points with two 3-point baskets.

Canyon took a 42-39 lead into the fourth quarter. Birdsong converted a three-point play to tie it 44-44 and Gov would do the same to make it 49-49. Josiyah Hall-Deans scored for Cypress off of an offensive rebound to put the Centurions on top 51-49.

Benjamin tied it on a spin move in the key, Yilmazturk took a great pass from Benjamin for a layup and Canyon was ahead 53-51. Jackson Houston scored for Cypress with two minutes left to tie the game 53-53. Benjamin spun his way through three defenders again for a 55-53 lead with 1:49 to go.

Benjamin made four free throws over the final 79 seconds as did reserve junior guard Rami Awad to keep Canyon in control.

Harrison said he hoped Cypress would get into the playoffs, and praised Cypress coach Derek Mitchell.

“There will be a ton of great teams that will miss the playoffs,” Harrison said. “And that man deserves to be in the playoffs. He does as good of a job as anybody.”

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers acquire center Mark Williams from Hornets

• February 6, 2025

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka acknowledged the team’s need for a big man on Tuesday morning during Luka Doncic’s introductory press conference.

And nearly 36 hours later, the Lakers filled that need, acquiring 7-foot, 241-pound center Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets to fortify their interior presence.

As part of the trade, which was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania on Wednesday night, the Lakers will send the Hornets rookie wing Dalton Knecht, veteran wing Cam Reddish, their 2031 unprotected first-round draft pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap.

Williams quickly reacted to the trade on social media, posting purple and yellow hearts on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday night.

The Lakers will open a roster spot after the trade is official.

Williams, who was drafted with the No. 15 pick out of Duke in 2022, is averaging 16 points (59.7% shooting), 9.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game in his third NBA season.

He’s averaged 11.7 points (62.6% shooting), 8.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocked shots and 1.1 assists for his career.

Williams fits the archetype of big men who have thrived alongside Doncic: an athletic and mobile lob threat who can make their presence felt at the rim on both ends of the court.

And at 23 years old, he fits the Lakers’ long-term goal of adding players who can contribute now while also fitting Doncic’s timeline.

The Lakers drafted Knecht with the No. 17 pick in last June’s draft.

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register